Dead Man's Handle
by SisterPet
Summary: Whilst investigating a case involving human organ theft, Murdoch and Julia find it nearly impossible to resist their attraction. Julia also realises that agreeing to marry Dr. 'Knight in Shining Armour' may not have been the best of decisions.
1. Chapter 1

_**Dead Man's Handle**_

Dotty moved along the rows of gravestones and eerie benevolent angels with sure steps and no hesitation. It was not that she was uncommonly brave walking fearlessly along the dead, but her life was in such a shambles at this moment, that should a headless horseman gallop out of the nearest headstone he could not frighten her any more than the thought of her father's strap. Or make her shiver with as much disgust as the suitor he'd decided she would marry.

"I'll not be marrying him for all the money in the world." She muttered, trying to still the sudden nausea bubbling up in her stomach at the thought of Mr. Blake's thick lips anywhere near her. As she approached the huge tree in the center of the graveyard she forced her thoughts back to brighter things.

Jack. Sweet, funny, adorable Jack, he would make a fine husband. Tall and strong, just the thought of him made her whole body heat up. She bit back a wicked giggle as she sank down onto the small bench under the tree to wait, the paper clutched in her hand. It was the answer to her prayers; with this she and Jack would be able to marry immediately, though convincing Jack to go along with it might be a little problematic.

Happy with the thought that by the time her father caught up with them, she'd be well and truly wedded and bedded and far beyond his thick leather strap, she never noticed the figure that moved up behind her.

Dorothy Gibney fought for her life as she'd fought her father's tyranny, and died with her last thought on Jack.

* * *

><p>Murdoch parked his bicycle against the outer wall of the cemetery. He adjusted his hat and braced himself, it was becoming harder and harder to slip into his protective shell of distance and control knowing she would be there probably kneeling beside the body. It amazed him how she managed to keep the miles of material of her skirts from dragging through the blood and gore she worked with. Then again she just plain amazed him... and infuriated him, he thought ruefully.<p>

George Crabtree fell into step beside him as he headed towards the hive of activity in the distance.

"Good evening George."

"Evening Sir, it's not so good for Dotty over there." He said and there was a tightness in his voice that was unusual. Murdoch glanced over at him and noted the pallor of the younger mans face.

"You are unwell?"

Crabtree shook his head and sighed, then stopped. Murdoch bit back the impatience trying not to dig too deeply into whether it was because a body awaited his attention, or the pathologist that was attending it.

"I knew her Detective." Crabtree said. That got Murdoch's complete attention. Questions whizzed through his head, but he bit them all back for the more pressing need to console his officer.

"Would you like to be excused from this one?" He asked wincing inwardly, doing this without George's boundless energy and sometimes quirky but always quick mind would lessen the chances of them solving the murder.

"No Sir. It's the least I can do for Dotty to see her killer brought to justice." He said, Murdoch eyed him but said nothing, just nodded and started back towards the scene.

He did not question George just yet, he wanted his mind clear and open to its own inputs and impressions, before any outside information could cloud it.

She lay like a small broken doll, propped up half on and half off the bench, her legs sprayed her clothing awry. Her head at an odd angle.

"Broken neck?" He murmured crossing himself and kneeling beside her.

"At first glance it would appear so." Julia's voice came from behind the tree and he craned his head to see her as she stepped into view. Despite the horrible circumstances and his focus on the job at hand, he could not stop his reaction to her. He ached. It was an almost physical pain just looking at her and knowing she would never be his.

"I'm going to have to perform a postmortem before I can give you more details," Julia said as she reached down and lifted her doctor bag, " but she fought so hard one of her shoes is stuck in the tree up there," she pointed then looked back down at the body.

"Good girl!"

Forcing his emotions back inside the iron box of his will he rose, stepped up beside her and looked to where the small boot hung in the branches.

"The force it must have taken to tear open the shoe and fling it up there is astounding," he murmured.

"She was fighting for her life." Julia said. She suddenly frowned and knelt back down over the body. Murdoch moved to look over her shoulder.

"Have you seen something Doctor?"

She stiffened slightly but said nothing as she gently pulled a fold of skirt aside, the dress was a dark brown, easily disguising the dried blood, "it looks like another injury, but it appears to be under her clothing not through," she shook her head and rose, "I won't be sure until I get her to the mortuary."

She beckoned to the constables carrying the stretcher and turned to Murdoch, "I'll bring you my findings when I have them Detective Murdoch."

It was like being slapped in the face. Despite everything that had passed between them she'd still called him William until today, and hearing her use his title like that brought a finality to their relationship that he was far from ready to accept.

"May I take her now?" Julia asked and he nodded. She didn't look at him again or even acknowledge him as she followed the stretcher. Another shot of pain arrowed through his heart, which must be riddled with holes at this rate.

"Her name is... was Dorothy Gibney. She lived with her father," George said as he moved up beside Murdoch, "he's probably going to be your top suspect, Frank Gibney was very hard on his daughter."

"Has her father been informed?" Murdoch asked trying to keep his eyes off Julia as she walked away, her hips swaying so enticingly and that saucy little hat sitting so jauntily on her head, the soft curls it nestled on reminded him of how she looked with all that hair loose and falling down her back. She'd taken his breath away that night, but then she'd always managed to do that.

"No sir, shall I do that now?" George was asking. Murdoch shook his head trying to get his head back to where it should be.

"Not yet, bring him to the station, I want to judge his reaction when we tell him." He murmured still watching Julia as she disappeared through the gates.

"Sir!" Georges voice brought his attention back, and he grimaced when he realized the constable had been talking to him at length and he'd stopped listening, again.

"I'm sorry Constable, you were saying?"

George waved the apology away, he knew what Murdoch must be going through, the woman he loved was marrying another and it hurt his very romantic heart. Not that he would ever admit it openly.

"The footprints sir, there is something odd about them."

"Odd?" Murdoch asked.

"Yes sir, I can't be sure because there are so many new prints now with everyone coming and going, but I got the impression that something did not match up with them. I'm sorry I can not be more specific," he shrugged. "The ground is too dusty for wax impressions but I think I could perhaps map out a drawing of some kind. It might help me to figure out what actually happened."

Murdoch patted him on the back, "Excellent idea, let me know when you have it."

Julia felt his eyes on her until she reached the street. It was strange how she always felt him, as if as soon as he got within range a strong thread of emotion ran between them.

She'd spent years trying to read his expressions, at first because as a woman in a mans world she needed to stay at least ten steps ahead of all the males around her, and then as a friend. It was only in the last years that she'd become almost insane with the need to see inside his head, get a glimpse of the emotions she desperately needed to believe he had. Now hard as she tried she could not shake the habit.

The distant ring of a church clock made her start, and she bit back the curse that wanted to slip out. Darcy would be angry with her if she came late to yet another function, he'd been very terse with her for leaving in the middle of dinner. For a moment uncertainty made her steps hesitate, but she squared her shoulders and continued.

"Julia!"

Darcy's voice made her swing around as she reached the street. There was a plush carriage sitting on the curb, Darcy opened the door and beckoned her into it.

"What are you doing here?" She asked as she let him help her inside. His face seemed pinched and distant.

"Tonight is very important Julia, I can not have you being tardy."

Julia sighed but said nothing. She looked down at the ring on her hand and realized she'd not really thought the consequences of saying yes through.

"I'm afraid that is part of my job Darcy, I will always be called away at odd moments. Sadly people are not murdered only during working hours."

"Well it is not something we need to worry about after we are married, so I apologize for being a little short with you Julia," He said lifting her hand and kissing the knuckles, another sign that she'd not done a lot of thinking, there were none of the shivers running up and down her spine as she got when William just looked at her.

"I don't understand? How are things going to change when we are married?" She asked, still too distracted to heed the warning bells that were going off all over her head. They'd reached her little town house and Darcy handed her down before answering.

"You obviously won't be working as the coroner, you will be much too busy with your duties to me and our home," He said giving her an impatient look. Julia stopped short, completely stunned by his statement, and the fact that he gave her a little push to get moving did not go unnoticed either. It became suddenly clearly and painfully apparent that she has made a very huge mistake.

She let him steer her into the house but waved her butler and the maid away as they waited for her hat and coat. Ignoring the surprised look on all their faces she marched through to the first drawing room and stood in the center of it, hands on hips like a gunslinger.

"What on earth is the matter? Really Julia, there is no time for dallying, I have explained how important this is," Darcy snapped as he followed her in.

"Shut the door please." She ordered, and she suddenly realized by the expression on his face that this was not a man who enjoyed being ordered around.

When he would open his mouth to talk further she held up her hand, judging by the sudden fury in his eyes he enjoyed that even less.

"The dead deserve justice and the faster I get my information to the people that need it, the faster they will get their justice and the less bodies will pile up in my mortuary," her hand shot up again as he opened his mouth, when it clamped into a tight line she felt a very petty sense of satisfaction.

"Frankly my being at your fund raiser will in no way influence the amount of funds raised, it will however involve me leaving my work undone and perhaps allowing a vicious murderer to roam free to kill again," she took a deep breath and bracing her shoulders, jutted out her chin and met him square in the eyes, "I am not going to be giving up my job after we are married, whatever duties you feel I need to concentrate on could not possibly be as important as the duties I hold at the moment."

His face was like thunder, Darcy took a step toward her. Julia held her ground glaring him down, the clock in the hallway chimed the hour and she gave him a very small cool smile. "I'm afraid your rebuttal will have to wait Darcy, or you are going to be late, and under the circumstances I will not be joining you at the ball."

With that she strode past him out the door, took Darcy's hat and coat from her butler and held them out to him. "Good evening."

"I find this appalling behavior unacceptable in someone who is to be my wife," he snapped, Julia jutted her chin out.

"Then perhaps we should both reconsider," she retorted, Darcy said nothing, simply stormed out of the house.

It took about ten minutes after that for her to feel guilty. She'd known he was under a terrible strain, the hospital need all the help it could get. Why then was she not showing more consideration? It didn't take much for her to realize that she was sabotaging the engagement, and she did not want to admit why, even to herself. She nodded to her butler who was not even trying to hide the disapproving expression on his face.

"I will be home late Jarvis, please tell cook I won't be needing supper." She snarled at him and sailed out the door.


	2. Chapter 2

Frank Gibney looked like a jolly white haired grandfather, if you got past the cold calculation in his eyes and the cruel turn of his lips. Murdoch disliked him on sight. Even more at the total lack of reaction on finding his child had been murdered. Sadly much as Murdock wanted to throw this monster into a cell, Gibney could not have killed his daughter because he'd spent most of the previous evening at the polices station having his daughters beau arrested. Which also took the beau off the suspect list, not that the absolute devastation on Jack Naders face could have been faked.

Murdoch left the room barely resisting the urge to slam the door. It appalled him that his usual calm distance was gone. He felt raw and exposed, and very very much on edge.

"So it's not the father or the boyfriend, what does that leave us?" Brackenreid asked, following him into Murdoch's office. Murdoch studied the board, there was so very little on it, but he knew it was early yet the deeper they dug the more would be revealed.

George had pinned a detailed map of the footprints to one of the boards, and Murdoch studied that for a moment. Crabtree was right, there was something odd about the footprints but the more he looked at the drawing, the more elusive the odd something became. When the image started to blur he shook his head and decided to come back to it another time.

"I'm on my way to the Coroner, I'm hoping Doctor Ogden will have more information." He said absently, then turned to George, "Constable organise Henry and some others to canvas the houses near that graveyard, question everyone if they saw anything even slightly out of place."

"You might also try and question her friends, people she's had dealings with and find out more about the man her father wanted her to marry. Maybe he did not like his future fiancé running off with another." Brackenreid ordered.

* * *

><p>Music echoed from the small gramophone player in the corner, and as William approached he could see her foot tapping in time to it. Julia was hunched over the desk deeply engrossed in writing what he assumed was his report.<p>

"Doctor Ogden?"

She looked up and gave him a half smile, it was distant and vague as if she was not really seeing him, but her eyes were sad.

"Detective. Just in time." She rose and closing the file handed it to him, then she took the clipboard and preceded him down the ramp.

"Cause of death was as we suspected. The C2 vertebra was fractured. However there was something else," she lifted the sheet and showed him a small cut on the body, "her kidney has been removed." She said handing him a small test tube.

"I found liquid in the wound. A very small amount, but I think the wound itself was packed in ice," she stated then covered the body again before turning to him, "the incision was done surgically, and could only have been done by a skilled surgeon," here for the first time Julia hesitated, then going back to the table handed him what looked like a medical journal entry.

"That was released a few months ago, Darcy was fascinated and brought it home for me from a conference in New York."

Murdoch frowned and glanced it over, it was filled with a lot of medical jargon but he understood that it was about transplanting the body part of one person into another.

"It's pure speculation at this stage if that could be done as there are too many factors that could go wrong, but what stood out for me was the reference to packing the organ in ice to keep it from deteriorating," she moved closer to him looking over his shoulder, her jasmine scent drowned out the formaldehyde and death.

He tried to keep his mind on what he was doing but she made it almost impossible. It was self-preservation that made him move a step away. That and the fact that he was enjoying being so close to her just a little too much.

Julia noticed and turned towards the mortuary, "there is something else I think you should see," she waited for him to join her and gently lifted the sheet a small fraction off the legs. There were long wicked looking scars that criss-crossed Dorothy's thighs, "it's worse on her back and buttocks."

"Constable Crabtree suspected that her father was rough with her, but I do not imagine anyone knew how badly he treated her," Murdoch said, then "how skilled a surgeon?" He asked, nodding to the incision when she looked confused. "How skilled would the surgeon need to be to do that?" He clarified.

"Extremely, I imagine there are only a handful that gifted in Toronto," then with a small smile she headed back to her office, "I'll draw up a list of names," she said knowing him well enough to know that would have been his next request.

"I will have it brought over to the precinct when I am done. I'm afraid I'm not as up to date on the local talent as Darcy is, may I consult with him on this?" She asked, not looking at him. Murdoch grit his teeth together but nodded.

Julia went to the little coat hanger and took down her hat and jacket and Murdoch was by her side instantly, taking the short jacket that matched her skirt from her and helping her into it. His hand brushed the back of her neck and she felt the heat rush up her face, she could not stop her body from trembling at his touch.

He followed her out the door, the silence between them far from comfortable. It was filled with unspoken emotions and old and new hurts never acknowledged. When they reached the street he summoned her a carriage but did not get into it with her.

The lights were on all over the house as Julia climbed the last steps into the warmth that awaited her with a small weary sigh. It was always hard when the victims were young, and Dotty Gibney had been very young, and very healthy.

She was just about to take her hat off and hand it to Jarvis when something else nudged at her mind. She stood frozen, her arms raised for a good minute.

"Miss Julia?" Jarvis might have been hired by her father to watch her, but he'd been with her family since she was a child, the concern in his voice was clear.

"She was well muscled Jarvis, I think she might even have been an athlete." She murmured. Jarvis raised one eyebrow, but aside from handing her back her coat he said nothing.

"Thank you," she smiled as she headed for the door.

"Doctor Garland was here earlier, he left a message." Jarvis handed her the folded card with Darcy's elegant handwriting on it. Julia nodded and slipped it into her pocket. She waited until she was in the carriage before she opened it.

_"Darling Julia, Please accept my deepest apologies for my appalling behavior. I will call on you tomorrow. Yours always, Darcy."_

Julia sighed and slipped it into her pocket, she looked down at the ring on her finger and realized she had some hard decisions to make.

Back at the mortuary she pulled out Dotty's body and paid closer attention to her musculature, which confirmed her thoughts. Julia called the precinct, but Murdoch had already left. It was only as she replaced the receiver that she realized there had been no need for her to rush back here tonight. The fact that Dotty was athletic was not that vital that she had to come dashing back, or that just for a moment, she'd been tempted to go to Murdoch's boarding house home to tell him her findings.

She closed up and went into her office, her mind strangely still. It was as if her heart had finally managed to be heard and now her head had nothing more to say. Julia slipped the ring off her finger and studied it. Darcy was a good man, and he deserved a lot better than marrying a woman in love with someone else.

She carefully placed it in her coat pocket and turned off the lights.

Murdoch looked up as Julia was walking into the station the next morning. It was like being punched in the gut only more painful. She had on another of those little hats set at a jaunty angle on her curls, and he'd yet to figure out why she wore them since they had absolutely no useful purpose that he could see.

She was pale, there were darker circles under her eyes and she looked sad. It suddenly occurred to him that even when they had been involved, he'd never just taken her in his arms and held her. Why then suddenly was that all he wanted to do?

"Good Morning Doctor Ogden, you are well?" He rose as she came in, but kept the desk between them. Julia frowned but nodded.

"I'm fine Detective, I have new findings on Dorothy Gibney," she handed him a file, "it appears she was athletic, though I have no idea in what sport."

Murdoch looked at the report in the file, "excellent work," he murmured already trying to figure out where Dotty would have developed that kind of physique.

"May I ask you a personal question?" Julia's question caught his full attention instantly. He put the file down and focused on her.

"Of course." It annoyed him that she would even ask.

"I should imagine you would allow, perhaps even encourage your wife to work?"

His insides turned into knots, trying to understand what she was trying to say to him. What hidden meaning did her words have?

"It would depend on my wife. It's not something I have given a great deal of thought to, but it is widely assumed most women wish to dedicate themselves to their husbands and home after marriage." He said carefully.

Julia nodded then straightened and sighed. "I have not managed to finish the list of surgeons, but I should have it for you by this evening." Julia said, not looking at him. Murdoch frowned at her, confused by the jump in topic, he said the first thing that popped into his head.

"That list is extremely important Julia, it's not like you to be tardy on something like this." He could have bitten his tongue almost as soon as the words were out of his mouth. Her eyes snapped up at him and there was a distinct snarl to her lips.

"I know William, however unlike myself, Darcy is not available twenty four hours of the day for your investigation." With that she turned to storm out of the door and William was around the desk and behind her before he even realized it.

"Julia stop!" He ordered, grasping her arm and swinging her around. Julia stumbled as her skirts tangled around her legs and William clamped an arm around her waist to steady her, but the moment her body brushed against him he could not stop himself from pulling her closer.

"Release me Detective, I wish to return to my office," She snapped at him, her voice breathless. Murdoch could see the color moving up her cheeks. It brought his focus up to her mouth, soft and pink, he knew how it would feel pressed against his, and thanks to one glorious absinth induced memory, how it would taste.

_He moved his hand up to cup her face, using his thumb to gently press her chin until her lips parted, he could almost hear her gasp of aroused shock as the hand he had curled around her hip tightened and drew her flush against him. Her breasts were pressed against his chest and he groaned with the need to feel them skin-to-skin. Gently so very slowly, careful to give her enough time to push him away, he lowered his mouth to hers..._

"Murdoch! Where the bloody hell are you!" Brackenreid's bellow brought Murdoch tumbling back to reality. Only in this reality he still had his hands around Julia's waist and, even more surprising, she had hers curled into his lapels.

"Julia you have to let go." He said as he gently pried her fingers loose, she blinked twice then nodded.

"Yes, I do." She said softly, and he was suddenly very sure she was not talking about her grasp on his coat.

Brackenreid stomped into the room nearly getting bowled over as Julia shot past him out the door. Murdoch watched her disappear.

"You might as well marry that girl Murdoch, you already fight like an old married couple." He snapped. Murdoch tried to get his mind to focus on his boss, but it was racing along with his heart.

_Had Julia had been as affected by their touch as much as he?_

"She is engaged to someone else" he murmured.

Brackenreid's chuckle finally brought his attention back to reality, "engaged being the operative word, me old mucker, as in not married yet." He stated. Murdoch blinked and frowned trying to work out just what that meant for him.

"I can not imagine Doctor Ogden making a commitment like that lightly. If she had feelings for anyone else she would not have agreed to marry Doctor Garland." He said it, but his head kept playing her stunned and flushed face for him. Brackenreid just shook his head.

"You have a lot to learn about women."

Murdoch ignored that as he knew his boss was stating the obvious. He forced his thoughts back to his job and focused on the blackboard. He didn't have a photograph of Dotty, but he had one of her father. Frank Gibney looked like a jovial Santa. It was shocking that this merry looking man could be responsible for the terrible marks on his daughter's body.

"So what do we have so far?" Brackenreid demanded.

"Not a lot. It appears we are back to square one. Jack Nader was in lock up at the time of the murder, and the father was at the police station at the same time, which rules them both out. Doctor Ogden confirms that the kidneys could only have been removed by a trained surgeon. She's compiling a list of all the ones living in Toronto."

"You think our killer will be on that list?" The Inspector asked.

"He could be, but it is more likely that our killer is visiting Toronto," he crossed his arms as his mind raced from one fact to the next, trying to find a pattern, a connection, a clue.

_I should imagine you would allow, perhaps even encourage your wife to work?_

Julia's words thrust through his head, throwing him out of his thoughts and into a deep well of emotions, pain and aching need.

_Why had she asked him that? What had she been trying to tell him? Was she going to stop working with him? Did she want to stop working all together? Did she want to go to work with Dr Garland at the children's hospital?_

"Murdoch!" Brackenreid's shout brought him back with a jolt and he tried not to look too guilty.

"I have a feeling you are not having one of your deep thinks about the case," he snapped, Murdoch said nothing, as there was nothing he could say.

"Yes well, I thought as much. I suggest you go get that list from the good Doctor, and then perhaps you could do Dorothy Gibney the courtesy of focusing on finding her killer?"

"Yes sir." Murdoch sighed and moved to the door. Steeling himself for yet another heart slamming meeting with Julia.

* * *

><p>Murdoch and Crabtree spent most of the morning checking schools, church halls and the woman's basketball league in the hopes of discovering what sport was responsible for Dorothy's musculature. They came up blank, as there were very little sports available to women, and those that were, like horseback riding and swimming, would have been impossible for Dorothy to hide from her father.<p>

It was early evening before they called on Dorothy's fiancé. Geoffrey Blake and Murdoch's instincts shot into overdrive the minute they were shown into the small drawing room. The man was cold, arrogant and had a permanent sneer on his face.

"I don't know how I can help you Detectives, I hardly knew the chit." He sniffed, Crabtree stiffened beside him, and Murdoch moved to put himself between them.

"I find that hard to believe. You were engaged to marry Dorothy were you not?" Though his voice was cool, any dislike Murdoch felt was not apparent in his voice.

"Her father arranged it, I had all my dealings with him. Frankly as long as she was of good solid stock and could bear me sons, I saw no reason to spend more time with her. I would have to do enough of that after the wedding." He said it with such a cold precision that even Murdoch had to fight down the need to take a swing at him.

"I see, and where were you yesterday evening?" He had the satisfaction of seeing a flash of anger slide through Blake's eyes.

"I was at the new theater. I am a patron," he said it with a sniff. Murdoch nodded and took down the details and address to confirm his alibi. He had to give George a little nudge to move him out the door, his eyes shooting daggers at Blake the entire time.

The theater the watchman also worked as the doorman and he confirmed Blake had only left the theater long after midnight. It was late when they headed for the mortuary and Julia was not there, though she had left the list on her desk.

"Is Doctor Ogden alright sir?" Crabtree asked as they climbed into the small cramped carriage and headed back to the office. Murdoch was trying to focus on the list, but he kept seeing her face. At Georges question he frowned.

"Is there a reason why she should not be?"

"It's just that she was very sad the last time we saw her, and I thought it might have something to do with her ring."

Murdoch froze, his mind shooting him back to the office. "Stop the carriage!"

He jumped out and handed a startled George the list, "get this to the office and call it a night George. I've got something I need to do, we will start early in the morning."


	3. Chapter 3

A very snooty butler refused to allow him entry into Julia's home until he used his badge and forced the issue. Then he was shown to a small drawing room and told that _Miss Julia_ would be informed of his intrusion. Murdoch wanted to push past him and run up the stairs to find her himself.

_Wet satin skin, glistening between dollops of foam. Long hair, curling down around a plump breast, tiny hints of pink peeking through the strands..._

A sudden vision of Julia stepping gloriously naked from a bath had his already shaky control slipping down another notch. It was becoming harder and harder to find his equilibrium. The more his emotions ran the gamut the less control he had over himself.

The need to see her, to be near her was like a fire under his skin. The only thing that stopped him was the thought of what it would do to her reputation.

He put his hat down when he came very close to crushing it and paced back and forth, getting more and more churned up with every turn.

When Julia slipped into the room, hair tumbling down her back, a deep blue negligee covered by a matching gown that was created more for bedeviling than modesty, he exploded across the room and grabbed her by the shoulders.

"Detective Murdoch!" She protested trying to step back, but he held her fast with a grip just shy of bruising.

"Did you break it off?" It was said between clenched teeth, and the little shake he gave her brought her stumbling closer to him.

"Did you break it off?" He demanded again, her gown slid open and he looked down at her body outlined in shimmering silk, it was enough to leave him completely unable to think.

"No." She snapped yanking out of his grasp and pulling the gown closed. Murdoch blinked and looked up into her face.

"Your ring?" Forming full sentences was beyond his ability at that moment, when prying his teeth apart enough to actually let the words out was hard enough.

She turned away, then her shoulders slumped and she turned back to him, "if you must know he broke it off with me."

Murdoch reached for her again, but Julia stepped back just out of reach, her chin shot up and her shoulders braced, "he did not approve of my job clashing with his."

This time he moved faster than she did and grabbing her waist, pulled her closer to him. While Murdoch understood that she was hurting, he seemed unable to focus on anything other than the fact that she was free and he was no longer honor bound to keep his hands off her.

"He is a fool." Was all he could manage before he gave into the urge and kissed her and when she gasped against his lips, he cupped her head and drove the kiss deeper.

Like a starving man William fed on her mouth, driving his tongue inside demanding her surrender, she gave one low deep moan and responded with a passion that shattered his control.

Julia's hand tangled in his hair, her body slammed into him and the full length of her pressed against him, it was too much, and not nearly enough. He wanted her naked, hot, damp and screaming. The very image of it in his head was taking him far too close to spending himself like an untried schoolboy. He slid his hands down to her shoulders drawing the gown apart and pushing it off her. When the soft material slid to the floor he drew back and looked.

She was exquisite, pale peach skin peaked through the lace between the silk that clung to her like a second skin, but Julia's hands were not idle and while he looked and fought for control her busy hands had diverged him of his coat and left his shirt hanging off his elbows.

Julia pushed his undershirt up, her clever little fingers burrowing under it to get to his chest. It was bliss, it was heaven and he was dizzy with the need to get inside her. With a growl he propelled them both back until she was pressed up against the wall and he was pressed up against her.

She was warm and soft and smelled like flowers. He let her slip his shirt and undershirt off him, and groaned as she spread her hands over his chest. He took her lips again addicted to the taste of her and the soft purring sounds she made as he ran his hands down her sides, past her hips and along her thighs, slowly gathering the nightgown as he went, bunching it up until his hands touched warm velvet flesh. He drew back and softly nipped at her bottom lip as his hands slid the gathered gown up to her waist.

When her head fell back in complete surrender he gently drew her legs apart just enough to slip between them.

Julia was lost, floating in a sea of sensation. Heat and need sizzled through her with a ferocity that drove all sane thought from her head. She wanted him, his taste, his scent and most of all his hands all over her or in her. She should be shocked, or afraid, or something, but all she felt was him, hard and thick, pushing up against her in just the right place.

"Julia." It was a hoarse whisper, a benediction and it tugged at something deep inside her. Her hands moved down to his trousers, and he jerked back, grabbing them and gently bringing them back to his chest.

"It will be over too quickly if you touch me," he said, his voice horse with need. She narrowed her eyes at him then slid her arms round his shoulders tangling her fingers in his hair again and tugged his mouth back down to hers, this time she devoured.

William groaned and cupped her breast pinching the tip through the silk until it throbbed and ached. Julia had never felt anything so intense, not complete pain, but also not complete pleasure. It was as if every touch tugged on a thread that ran down inside her and she gasped trying to pull back, but his other hand cupped her head and he held her firmly as he tortured her, drinking in her desperate moans. When he finally let her breathe she was panting and trembling.

"William," a warbled gasp.

He nuzzled down her neck, his wickedly skillful fingers pushed aside her negligee and lifted her breast out. His hand, callused and rough as he stroked over the swollen nipple, while his tongue slid down and lapped soothing the small hurts, distracting her while his other hand moved down between them.

"Julia?" He grinned against her skin and she gave a giggled groan. She wanted to tell him he was wicked, she wanted to tell him he was driving her wild, most of all she wanted to tell him she loved him, but one long, thick finger slid between her folds and inside her and all she could do was moan.

"I want you to spend for me, I want to watch you fly," he whispered in her ear, as the heat and tension coiled inside her, getting tighter and tighter with every thrust of his finger. She'd never felt anything like it, it frightened her, and she grasped his arms trying to halt his movements.

"William?" It came out a strangled cry.

"Look at me." He demanded as he used his other hand to tilt her head up, she opened her eyes and met his, warm chocolate had become black fire. He looked feral and determined, all humour gone from his face.

"Trust me," he ordered as he added another finger, stretching her swollen channel, the tension coiled tighter and her entire body felt as if it was about to implode. Then suddenly he stopped, released her, and moved towards the door so fast she was still shuddering and panting.

"Miss Julia!" the butlers voice followed by a hard knock on the door. William held the door closed and turned a very naughty grin at her.

"You might want to tell him to hold on, I'm not sure I can hold this door if he tries to break it down," he said. She wanted to throw something at him, mostly because she was about ready to tear pieces out of the wall in frustration, and aside from looking a little flushed and dishevelled, he appeared none the worse for wear.

"Miss Julia, the door appears to be stuck." The butler called, rattling the door-handle. William put more of his weight against it.

"Julia?" The smile was sliding off his face, as his eyes racked over her and the fire barely banked flared in them. She looked down at herself and went bright red. Her nightgown hung off one shoulder and bunched up around her waist, leaving one breast and her entire lower body completely exposed. Her legs were still splayed and his eyes were focused on the little triangle of curls with a look of such hunger she felt as if he was touching her again.

Jarvis' banging and rattling on the door pulled her back and she straightened, adjusted her gown and looked around for her dressing gown.

"In a moment Jarvis!" She snapped irritably. The banging stopped instantly. Scooping up her gown she slid into it and was about to open the door when William grabbed her, swung her against him and kissed her. He was getting very good at using her gasp of surprise to sweep his tongue into her mouth and take possession. The kiss seemed to go on forever, and the very pronounced throat clearing on the other side of the door had them both pulling back with a moan.

"Don't let him in," Murdoch whispered against her lips, when she raised a brow in question he took her hand and slid it down his body to the very pronounced ridge under his trousers. Her interest perked up instantly and she gave the bulge a little squeeze, William's body stiffened and he growled, pulling her hand away very quickly.

"Butler at the door." He said, it took her a moment to work out what he was saying and when she did she wanted to stamp her feet and snarl in frustration.

She was still irritated and very petulant when she opened the door leaning just her head out.

"What is it?" She snapped.

Jarvis looked concerned and horrified, "is everything alright Miss Julia? I heard you cry out." He asked, trying to see through the thin crack of door into the room behind her while of course not appearing to do so.

"I'm fi..." Warm hands ran up the back of her legs "...ine," she stuttered trying to swat behind her blindly, but the fiend was not within reach. He bunched her gowns up to her waist, leaving her bottom completely exposed. Julia's face went blood red.

"Miss?"

She clamped her legs together trying to stop the very determined hands from reaching where they were obviously heading.

"I'm very well Jarvis, you may retire for the night." The sentence ended in a squeak as sharp teeth nipped her bottom, that was followed by the warm wet lathe of a tongue and she went completely cross-eyed.

Jarvis stared at her with ever growing concern. The next nip had her jumping and the hand that engulfed her ankle used that opportunity to draw her legs apart.

"You have another guest Miss. Doctor Garland is here, I have put him in the library." He stated with a sniff. Julia barely heard him above the roaring in her head. The hands on her body were gone, replaced by fingers sliding up her thighs with a touch as soft as dragonfly wings.

"Good." She managed before she slammed the door shut in his face and leant her heated forehead against it.

"William..." she didn't know what she wanted to say, she certainly did not want him to stop.

"Turn around." William ordered softly. She hesitated for a small second and then did as he asked. He held her clothing pushed up to her waist as he knelt between her legs, the pure eroticism of it was making her squirm. When he reached up and took her hand he pushing the bunched material into it.

"Hold that for me," it was said with a cheeky grin, but the flame in his eyes defused any humour.

Julia met his eyes and held them as he lowered his mouth to her navel, it was so arousing watching him like this that she could not look away or even blink, but when his hands slid up her thighs spreading her open and his mouth moved lower, her eyes closed and her head fell back in absolute surrender.

It was warm and wet, it made the tension inside her coil so tight it was almost pain. Julia's hands fisted in the cloth bunching up around her waist, her legs trembled and she squirmed, trying at once to get closer and away from the exquisite torture of his tongue flaying her. When he slid two fingers inside her, pumping them in a timeless rhythm her body took over and all she could do was let it.

Harder and faster he drove her, the tension building and building until it exploded through her and she bucked against him, sobbing out her release.

Julia's legs buckled and she sank down into his arms, still shuddering and gasping while he held her cradled to him.

"Where's your bed Julia," William hissed in a tight urgent voice. Julia blinked up at him, his face was pale and tense, his eyes ablaze with need.

"I don't want our first time to be on the drawing room floor," he insisted.

Julia felt the heat inside her coil again and nodded. William helped her to her very unsteady feet and gently righted her clothing. His gaze was on her swollen lips and his look had her licking them self-consciously.

"Hurry!" He growled putting his hand on the small of her back to gently urge her faster. She'd taken two steps towards the door when she suddenly remembered Jarvis's words.

"Oh! I forgot, Darcy is here," Julia swung around, putting a detaining hand on his chest. The fact that she wanted to run that hand up and down the muscular flesh nearly distracted her again.

"What?" William went from gentle lover to cold rage in an instant. Julia gaped but her mind was too preoccupied with other things to realize that she'd wandered onto very thin ice.

"I'm sorry, Jarvis told me, but your hands, and your mouth..." she shuddered as renewed heat coiled inside her, then realizing that she was fantasizing about him she turned pink and tried to shake it off. Julia snapped the belt to her dressing gown tight and ran a shaking hand through her tangled hair.

"I have to go speak to him," she said, turning towards the door.

"Now?" Murdoch's voice was a muted bellow, she winced and turned back to him, wanting to explain but not sure how.

"Upstairs second door on the left is my bedroom, I'll try and make this as quick as I can," with that Julia made her escape faster than was decent.

Murdoch stood staring at the spot where she'd been. He was so angry he was afraid to move for fear of snapping what tiny threads of control he had left, knowing that if he did, if he gave in to the urge driving him, he'd follow her out that door, bodily throw Doctor Perfect out onto the street, then drag her up the stairs and finish what they'd started. And by god, by the time he was done with her, she'd not think to run off, she would not be able to walk.

While that thought made his body tighten and throb even more, the rage inside him could not completely cover the hurt, and it was that which made him dress, take his hat and head out of the house.


	4. Chapter 4

_She pirouetted through the gate, made a graceful fouette between the graves, and did a Grand Jete over the lower gravestones back onto the path. Joy in every line and move of her body. Her skirts a minor hindrance, and only caused a small problem in landing from her Grand Jete leap. Enthusiasm gave her feet wings._

_For once the sadness of this place did not get her down, she was too happy. Her dreams were coming true. Madame had said she had the gift, and now she would show her that she'd been right._

_Lizzy McLaren did another graceful leap and sank onto the bench, hugging the small creased paper to her chest. It was her ticket to a world she'd only ever dreamed of._

_A rustling caught her attention and her head shot around as she suddenly remembered where she was, and that another girl had lost her life in this very same place not two nights ago._

_"Oh, 'tis you! I gave myself quite a scare there," she sighed in relief and patted the bench beside her._

_Her eyes widened in realization of danger far too late to save her, and as her body bucked and fought for life, all the grace and beauty she had lived by died with her in a contorted travesty of twisted limbs._

* * *

><p>"William. I've been looking all over for you." Julia caught up with him as he stepped into the street outside the precinct. Murdoch fought with himself for all of a second before manners won out and he turned and faced her, plastering a calm bland look on his face.<p>

"I am sorry, I have been busy on field work," He tried to look at her, but all he could see was her skin flushed with passion, her eyes dazed. His hands itched to touch, and he ached with unfulfilled needs. It brought the simmering rage inside him to boiling.

Julia looked around, but no one was paying any attention to them, "I'd like to explain..." she began then took a shocked step back when his hand shot up halting her words.

"No explanations needed," he said, doffing his hat and turning away. Julia's hand on his arm froze him, and Murdoch grit his teeth.

Didn't she know better than to poke at an angry bear?

"William! You have to listen," She demanded a fair bit of anger in her voice. That got his attention and he swung on her, grasping her upper arms in a bruising grip. For once he did not care if the whole world could see them.

"I do not have to do a damn thing. You made your choice last night, now I beg you go back to work and leave me to do mine." He put her a step away from him, and let her go so abruptly she'd have fallen if he hadn't steadied her with a much gentler hand on her elbow. As soon as she found her balance he nodded to her, grabbed his bicycle and rode off.

William looked once over his shoulder as he turned a corner. Julia was still standing there rubbing her arm where he'd grabbed her. The guilt was fast and hard, and it wormed its way through the anger.

Even while he questioned the people that lived and worked around that graveyard, his mind kept going back to Julia. He was sure she would have bruises on her arms from his rough handling and it made him sick to think he could stoop so low.

"The hospital just called. Young Nader just tried to off himself by jumping off a bridge. He's in a coma and they think he's not going to wake from it." Brackenreid greeted him with that, and Murdoch felt a wave of sympathy. He knew what it was to have lost something so vital that carrying on seemed almost impossible.

_The same something you've just pushed away so roughly._

It was late that evening that he found himself walking up the stairs to the Coroners office, guilt had driven him until he could think of nothing but making sure Julia was unharmed. She was not in her office so he went down the ramp. She was hunched over a test tube in the tiny laboratory corner of her mortuary. A few wayward curls had escaped her coiffeur, and his eyes were drawn to the soft ones at the nape of her neck. He'd nuzzled those, her scent strongest just there and it had driven him insane.

"Julia." He said softly so as not to startle her, he realized she did not have her usual music on and that was a sure indication to her state of mind. Julia looked up her expression as bland as he wished his could be.

"Detective."

A full body shot that, but then her aim had always been excellent. He turned the hat in his hand around and around, as if searching for the words he needed on the rim he was systematically destroying.

"I came to apologize," he said not looking at her, "I was rough with you today and..." words were so inadequate for his actions.

"I am unharmed Detective, you did not physically hurt me," she cut him off briskly, "please think nothing more on it."

"Nevertheless I should have shown more care," he sighed and straightened, "if your fiancé wants to defend your honor I will meet him at a place of his choosing."

Julia's spine snapped up and she rose from her chair and swung on him, gone was the bland expression on her face, she was furious. Gloriously, magnificently enraged, she struck him dumb. Her eyes burned and flared with emotion and her entire body trembled. William was so lost in the wonder of staring at her that the fist she landed on his chin and sent him stumbling back a good two steps was a completely unexpected shock.

"I do not need any man to fight my battles William Murdoch, those were your words. Have you forgotten already?" She snapped, then winced and cradled her hand. Murdoch was instantly by her side gently prying her hand loose he inspected it.

"I think you might have bruised it," he murmured as he maneuvered her to the washbowl and poured cool water over it.

"I have not, stop fussing!" She snapped trying to snatch her hand out of his, but he tightened his hold just enough to let her know he was not going to let this be.

He knew where she kept the ice and quickly fetched some, wrapped it in a towel and gently placed it on her knuckles.

"I don't know how men can call this a sport," she muttered "it hurts on both sides..." then she looked at him and sighed, "or not."

Murdoch smiled, "I'm trying to be strong and manly and not show that a woman nearly knocked me to the floor."

Julia snorted but said nothing. She let him lead her back to the chair and sat down, only when he moved to leave she grabbed his arm.

"I'm not engaged to Darcy any more." She said quietly.

Murdoch nodded all humor gone from his face, he leaned back against the table, "I know, I think I knew it when I left last night." He murmured. Julia looked confused; his words were not making sense with his actions.

"I don't understand why you are so angry?" She finally asked. Murdoch's head snapped up and there was a barely banked fire in his eyes.

"You don't understand?" He hissed the words at her as he leant closer to her, nearly nose to nose. Julia blinked and backed away as far as the chair would let her.

"You walked out on me to go to him while we were about to... " he waved his hand vaguely.

"Have sex? It's called sex Murdoch." She snapped.

"... make love." He finished. Her expression softened and she reached out a hand to cup his cheek, he pulled away.

"I'm sorry William, I really am, but I had to go to him. I owed him at least that."

That just enraged him more and he rose to walk away.

"William!" She called, and then instantly regretted it when he swung back on her so violently she nearly tumbled off her chair.

"You owed me far more than you ever owed him. You owed me the respect of not leaving me with my bits hanging out while you run off to mollycoddle another man. You owed me the decency of ending things between us before you ran off to get engaged to someone else. You owed me the kindness of giving me a chance to recover from dropping a bomb on me before running off to Buffalo, and most of all Julia you owed me the honesty of telling me about your past before a case forced it out of you." He roared at her so loud she felt sure the dead would hear him. In all the years she'd known him she had never seen him this angry.

"Will..."

He cut her off with a growl and she shut her mouth instantly. There was something feral and out of control about him and she was certainly not going to poke at him any more.

"You have put everyone's needs and wishes before mine when I am the first one you should be considering. You are an independent woman and I have always admired that about you, but you play fast and loose with my feelings and I am not going to tolerate it any more. It is obvious we can not share a friendship without emotions getting in our way, so I would suggest that we keep this strictly business from now on and that, unless it is absolutely necessary, all our dealing should be done through either Constable Crabtree or Chief Inspector Brackenreid." With that he grabbed his hat and walked out.

Julia sat there for a very long time not moving. She felt wounded and suddenly very afraid that if she moved even a millimeter the terrible pain that wracked her would worsen and she would fall to the floor writhing and screaming.

He'd been right and she had been so very stupid. She'd punished herself and him for falling in love, convinced that anything that felt so wonderful would make the universe jealous and the world would punish them. She'd cowardly sabotaged both their happiness to avoid some unknown future pain. But she also knew she was not alone in this, he carried as much blame as she did. If he'd just once let his anger out, just once let her know what his feelings were under that mask of control he wore, showed his hurt... then again how much had she opened up to him, wasn't that his point?

"Excuse me Doctor?" Henry moved down the ramp a wary expression on his face, she vaguely wondered what he saw on her face to make him so wary.

"Yes?"

"Pardon me ma'am there's another body."

While her entire being screeched in denial at having to face him again, she nodded and rose. Her body felt old and frail as if the last few minutes had aged her far beyond her years, and perhaps it had.

* * *

><p>Murdoch was restless unable to think. The stricken expression on Julia's face haunted him. He hadn't meant to attack her like that, hadn't meant to wound her so badly, or to blame her for his own ability to get out of his head. Now as he stood over the body of another young woman, when his mind should be sharp and focused on catching the monster responsible and all he could think about was Julia.<p>

"Another red head." Brackenreid said absently. Murdoch nodded, he'd already noted that both victims had been red heads.

"I believe the shade is auburn," George said informatively.

"Another one of your Aunts tell you that?" Brackenreid asked with a slight sneer. George shook his head and nodded towards Julia as she wove her way around the gravestones.

"Doctor Ogden has the same shade so I asked her."

Murdoch paid little attention to their talk, his eyes drinking her down as she moved towards them. She looked pale but strong, no red eyes from weeping, no sad longing or accusing looks in his direction. She nodded to him briskly as she knelt beside the body, but aside from that she did not acknowledge him in any way.

Julia did exactly as he'd demanded. She addressed all her observations to Brackenreid or George and ignored him so completely he felt compelled to make her notice him.

"The neck is broken?" He asked her, cursing himself for being an idiot. She'd already said it was.

"It seems exactly like the other two Detective. I can not be sure but I think there will be body parts missing on this one too," she informed him, still not meeting his eyes. Since she was still examining the body he should not have felt this overpowering need to make her look at him, but he did.

"Instead of asking Doctor Ogden to repeat herself yet again, I suggest you get on with doing what you do best. Find the killer!" Brackenreid snapped.

"May I take her now?" Julia asked Brackenreid. Murdoch nodded before he realized she was not asking him, which added another coal to the smoldering fire banked inside him.

He couldn't explain why he was so out of control, or why he could not find his calm center. No matter how hard he tried to force his mind back onto the one thing that had never let him down, his job, even that was becoming elusive.

For perhaps the first time he thought that it might have been better if she had stayed in Buffalo, and then he got a visual of her walking down the isle with Darcy and his head felt as if it would explode.

"I will need your report as soon as possible," he snapped as she rose to follow the stretcher. She nodded without even looking at him. Brackenreid and George glared at him disapprovingly, and he ignored them both.


	5. Chapter 5

"How are we doing with the list Doctor Ogden gave us?" Brackenreid asked as they studied the murder board.

"It is proving to be a lot more difficult then we at first imagined. It appears there is a convention in town, surgeons from all over the world are here at the moment. It's going to be hard to alibi them all."

"Start with the local lot, then those that have been to Toronto before. Whoever did this must have a rudimentary knowledge of the town." Brackenreid ordered. Murdoch nodded, he'd already thought the same thing.

It took the better part of the day to interview all the names on the list, and like the mythological hydra, the more they questioned the more names were added to the list.

Doctors may have the Hippocratic oath to protect their patients, but they had no compunction about giving up their competitors and their colleagues. What started out as a good lead soon became a tangled nightmare of intrigue and gossip.

"Was she blonde? Doctor Julian was seen with a blonde woman, not his wife, at a restaurant."

"She was a brunette Dorian, however can you keep your patients alive with that memory?"

"Well we know it could not have been you who removed the kidney, you wouldn't be able to find it with a map and a compass!"

After six hours of that, Murdoch was ready to have them all brought down to the station and locked up just to keep them from spreading any more venom.

It was late in the day when Julia walked into the precinct. She came to his office but her usual greeting was cool and distant.

"Her liver has been removed." She said and there was a puzzled look on her face, which she seemed to shake off.

"Do we have a name for her yet?" she asked as she placed the file on his desk. Murdoch shook his head, they had found nothing on her person to identify her, now all they could do was pass her photograph around and hope someone recognized her.

"Unfortunately no, and no one has reported her missing. Constable Crabtree suggested we call her Jane Doe, a female equivalent to John Doe," he murmured. Murdoch noticed the expression on her face was not pleased with Crabtree's suggestion.

"I suppose she needs to be named something for the records should no other information on her come to light." He said carefully.

"I think it's terrible! A person should at the very least be laid to rest with their given name," her voice did that little lilting squeak it did when she was very vexed. He'd often wondered, in his deepest darkest fantasies, if it would do the same in the midst of passion. He got a sudden and very clear vision of Julia in Darcy's arms, and it shook him to the core with the overpowering need to shake her until she told him what liberties she'd allowed her ex-fiancé.

It took far more effort than he liked to hold himself back. It was becoming painfully obvious that no matter what he did, Julia was under his skin, and regardless of how much hurt lay beneath it all, he was condemned to love her forever.

Julia blushed suddenly ashamed of her outburst. With a muttered "good day," she hurried out of his office, but Murdoch was surprised when she did not leave the precinct as he'd assumed, instead she knocked on Brackenreid's door. He was up and moving towards her when she firmly shut the door behind her.

"I wonder what that's about," George murmured, following his gaze to the Inspectors closed door.

"None of our busyness it would seem." Murdoch snapped and returned to his office, but he could not keep his gaze from wandering repeatedly back across the bull-pen to Brackenreid's office. He hated the fact that the Inspector had drawn his blinds.

What did they need to draw the blinds for? He was a married man, he had no right to lock himself into a room with an unmarried woman.

The image of Julia in the arms of Thomas Brackenreid brought him out of the chair and halfway across the bullpen before he caught himself. This had to stop, he could not keep going on like this, it was time...

The thought was interrupted by a sudden thought, he turned and raced back to his office and straight to the blackboard. There on it he quickly drew an image of the park and the placement of each body. It was impossible to happen upon two single young women alone, in a graveyard, at night, let alone two with the same hair color. They were being lured there, possibly from some source both women had in common.

He might have been deeply involved in the case, but some sixth sense alerted him the moment Julia walked out of Brackenreid's office. As recent as yesterday he would have felt comfortable enough in their friendship to go and ask her what that was all about, but he knew if he did now she would tell him to take a long walk off a short bridge. Still he started to follow her when...

"Murdoch!" Brackenreid's muted bellow froze him in mid stride and he fought with himself for a long moment before reason won out, and he turned and headed towards his superior.

"Good choice," the inspector murmured. Murdoch did not even acknowledge the comment. He followed the Inspector into his office.

"You questioned the ladies basketball club? That must have gone down well with that amazon running it." Brackenreid smirked, Murdoch winced, it had not gone very well at all. He had a feeling if he sent Julia in to question the women she might have more luck. It was the asking her to do it that made him hesitate, but he did need their help.

"I'm going to ask Doctor Ogden to speak with them, they might share more information with her. Dotty was definitely not playing basket ball but she was doing some sort of sport." He picked up Julia's report and studied it, then looked up at the inspector.

"Our Jane Doe was also very well developed, but Doctor Ogden states that it was a slightly different type of musculature." He closed the file, and tapped it against his palm. Something was trying to work its way through the maze in his mind and he knew if he held still and just waited it would come to him. He turned and absently walked back across to his office, staring at the board.

The words blurred for a moment but he kept seeing the word _muscular_, and _youth_.

"You have your little think Murdoch, I'll be in my office when you are done," Brackenreid said, but then stopped when Murdoch grabbed his hat and coat, muttered something about needing to speak to Doctor Ogden and raced out the door.

"Doctor..." He stopped dead in his tracks as Julia stepped out of Darcy's arms. His blood went from warm to sizzling in the matter of a split second. It was a good thing that Toronto detectives did not carry guns, because at that moment he would have shot the other man.

"Detective Murdoch," Darcy said with a nod, then turning back to Julia he lifted her hand to his mouth and placed a kiss on the back.

"Think about what I said," Darcy said as he put his hat on, pushed past Murdoch and left.

"Think about what?" It came out a muffled snarl. Murdoch stayed where he was afraid that if he moved any closer he would shake her.

"Is there something I can help you with Detective?" She asked, ignoring his question.

Murdoch closed his eyes for just a moment, praying for the control he was so renowned for. What had happened to his calm?

"Answer my question Julia."

"No, it is absolutely none of your concern, now either tell me what brought you here or leave."

He knew if he did not leave in that instant he would do something that they would both regret. Without a word he turned and walked out.

The trip to Doctor Tash's office took just long enough for him to get himself under control, but it was hard fought and very thin.

"What can I help you with Detective." Tash's voice was pleasant and calm, but there was a wary distance as he settled behind his desk.

"I wonder, could you tell the form of exercise someone takes by the development of their bodies?"

Tash rubbed his chin for a moment then nodded, "Yes for a sports medical practitioner that should not be a problem."

"Do you know any?" Murdoch asked, Tash looked at him for a long moment then nodded towards the certificates on is walls.

"I studied that branch of medicine and have practiced it occasionally," he said.

"Could I impose on you to examine two bodies for me and perhaps discover what sports the victims practiced in life?"

Tash sighed but nodded, "Of course, I assume Julia has them?"

"Yes, one other question, what types of sports are there available to women in Toronto?" Murdoch asked, already by the door.

"There are not a lot, horse riding seems to be the favored sport of the gentry, but I have heard tell of a woman's basket ball team, and our Julia has her own exercise class at the woman's institute twice a week."

Murdoch suddenly remembered her teaching some sort of class. He'd never really asked her what it was, but then she'd had on a very racy short skirt that showed her ankles and her top buttons had been undone. He'd nearly swallowed his own head.

"Thank you for your time, I will contact Julia and let her know you will be consulting with her," he said reaching for the door.

"No need for that Detective, I am seeing Julia for lunch, I will pass on your observations."

That knocked him back a step, now that Darcy was out the picture were all the hounds coming out of the woodwork? Then he remembered that Tash had never been interested in Julia that way. Still he did not trust himself not to go into a jealous fit, so he just doffed his hat and left.

Despite Tash's comment about passing on the information, or perhaps because of it, Murdoch found himself standing outside the Mortuary. He was wrestling with himself, he knew he was in no state of mind to be civil, but the need to be near her was becoming almost overpowering, as if after having nearly lost her forever he now could not be far from her until he'd made her his in the most fundamental way.

"Is there something I can help you with Detective?"

Her voice startled him and he swung around, he'd not realized that he was standing outside the building staring at the door as if it were the gates of hell.

She had on another of those silly little hats, this one had a little bow on the front and bright ribbons dangling off the back.

"Why on earth do you wear those things Julia, they serve absolutely no purpose that I can see," he asked absently, his mind working something out. Her hat had triggered a memory, the beginnings of a thought.

Julia blinked at him and reached up to her hat, "they do very much serve a purpose Detective!" She snapped, pure feminine outrage in every line of her body. He focused back on her a querying eyebrow raised. When she sniffed and dropped her hand, but refused to embellish on her statement he frowned at her.

"What?" He asked, genuinely fascinated.

Julia eyed him for a moment then sighed, "I know that look. Very well, it makes me feel good, it's pretty and I like the way I look wearing it, and it is fashionable to wear headgear when not indoors."

Murdoch's head shot up, "Outdoors!" He hissed, "both the victims were outdoors and yet neither of them wore hat or coat."

Julia followed his train of thought, "it's early spring, but the evenings are still chilled, either the killer took them or..."

"Or they were from somewhere close, and only ducked into the graveyard for a rendezvous." He finished for her.

Julia nodded, then watched with a sigh as he turned without another word and ran off towards the precinct.

"Julia!"

She turned as Tash stepped out of the carriage shielding her eyes against the noon day sun, her hat brim far too small to offer any protection.

_Why on earth do you wear those things Julia, they serve absolutely no purpose that I can see. _

She heard Murdoch's voice in her head and bit back a very colorful curse.

"Isaac, you are a little early, did we not agree to meet at the restaurant?" She offered her cheek for his kiss.

"I came early as a favor for your Detective, he asked me to examine the bodies..." he stopped and held up his hand in surrender when her face turned to thunder.

"That snake!" She snarled, turning and marching towards the precinct, "belly slithering back stabbing beast!" She moved so fast, it took Isaac a full two minutes to catch up with her.

"Julia stop." He demanded, she naturally ignored him, so he grabbed her arm and halted her.

Julia swung on him with a fury that seemed to set the very air alight, "I can take him treating me as if I were the root of all evil, but I will never allow him to interfere or question my job." She snapped tugging at her arm.

"If I have ever treated you with anything less than respect Doctor Ogden I do apologize," Murdoch's voice had her head snapping around and her eyes narrowed on him like twin beams.

Murdoch however was not looking at her, he was glaring at Isaac Tash's hand on her arm. Tash removed it immediately.

"But I would never question or interfere with your job. Doctor Tash is an expert in Sports Medicine." He said calmly, the fire in his eyes banked very slightly when Tash moved a step back from Julia.

Julia noticed none of the silent interplay between the men.

"Why would..." she stopped as her mind worked it all out and then flushed a very deep pink, "...of course, if we know the sport you will have a place to start looking."

Julia swiveled and marched back towards the mortuary. Murdoch and Tash exchanged a look of baffled wariness but followed quickly.

Back in the mortuary, she did not stop to remove either her hat or her coat, instead she slammed open both the body storage doors, and pulled out both gurneys with a vigor that should have shot them halfway across the room had Murdoch not caught them and halted their flight.

Tash took a wary step forward, keeping well away from a still silently seething Julia. She lifted the sheet with a snap.

It was Dorothy Gibney. Tash studied her arms, then moved on to her legs and finally her feet.

"Amazing! This woman was a gymnast," he said, and got Julia's full interest as he pointed to Dotty's ankles, "common gymnastic injury is ankle sprains. Look how distorted her Tibia is. There is a lot of calcification there from repeated healing."

Julia frowned and nodded, "Her right knee is also very swollen, it has not quite healed so the injury is relatively new."

Anger forgotten they gently covered her up again and moved the gurney back. As Julia uncovered Jane Doe, Tash stiffen and stepped back, "Lizzy." He murmured shaking his head. Both Murdoch and Julia turned to him.

"You know this girl?"

Tash nodded as Julia lowered the sheet, "her name is Lizzy McLaren and I don't need to look at her body to tell you she was a dancer, an extraordinary one."

Julia put the body back while Murdoch questioned Tash. She perked up when he mentioned the new theater.

"Oh we were there last week, they have a variety of different acts, Darcy..." She stopped suddenly her eyes shot to Murdoch's face and her mouth snapped shut. Tash's eyebrows rose but he said nothing.

"Go on Doctor Ogden," there was a very slight snarl in Murdoch's voice that only Julia heard and understood.

"They have about three or four different acts, shown on different days. Musical recital, a play, a ballet and another..."

"A contortion act." Tash finished for her.

"Gymnastic?" Murdoch asked, and both Tash and Julia nodded.

"Thank you Doctors." Murdoch said as he doffed his hat and walked out.

The Theater was closed when Murdoch and Crabtree arrived, but they could hear the hive of activity inside. A brisk knock on the door gained them admittance by the watchman. The stage was filled with people in what looked to be a meeting of some kind. Everyone stopped to watch them approach.

"We are closed."

Murdoch studied the man who was obviously in charge and flashed him the tin badge. "Your name sir?"

"Terrance Derby, this is my theater." He answered.

"Our theater." A voice in the wings corrected. Murdoch turned and did a double take, it was like looking at two pees in a pod. The man coming out of the wings looked identical in every way to Terrance Derby.

"What the heck?" George gasped out.

"Identical Twins." Murdoch said as he watched the other man move up next to his double.

"Indeed, Trent Derby at your service Detective, what may we do for you?"

"Are you acquainted with Dorothy Gibney and Lizzy McLaren?"

Terrance and Trent looked at him with raised eyebrows, even their facial expressions were in sync.

"They work for us, at least Lizzy does. Dorothy is due to start training for our contortion act," they exchanged a look and both men's faces paled, "we read in the paper two women were murdered..." Trent started.

"... But we never imagined it was Lizzy." Terrance finished, it was becoming very obvious the twins had an extraordinary bond by the way they finished each other's thoughts and sentences.

There was no denying the shock on both their faces at the news, which probably ruled them out, but Murdoch questioned them further anyway.

George in the mean time was moving among the actors and artists, questioning and coaxing information out of them, while Murdoch subtly watched the reactions.

"When was the last time anyone saw either of the girls?" He asked, while George asked the exact same question to a group of young dancers who giggled and blushed at having a man in uniform pay them attention.

"We never saw Dorothy again after we accepted her into the troop, but then she would only have been missed later on today. Lizzy was here last night, we had a matinee and two evening shows, she's in all three of them." Terrance replied, looking to Trent for confirmation.

"She was here for the last curtain call at midnight," Trent offered.

"Did Lizzy have a dressing room?" George was asking the girls and Murdoch turned his full attention to that conversation.

"Oh no, she was principal dancer but she still shared a dressing room with us all. She had her own mirror though." The girl said, with another little giggle that made George roll his eyes.

The dressing room proved to be cramped and overcrowded, but it was rigorously neat. The elderly woman that sat in a chair sewing, jumped to her feet as Murdoch and George entered the room.

"This is a ladies dressing room, gentlemen are not permitted." She snarled at them. Trent, or Terrance - they were almost impossible to tell apart - stepped forward and held out a calming hand. Something detached itself from the shadows behind them, and Murdoch felt an eerie cold run down his spine. Even in the strong lights strung along the passage it was impossible to get a full impression of the man except that he was big. When Murdoch stepped out into the passage to confront him, he was suddenly gone, as if he shrank into himself and blended into the shadows. Neither policeman saw his face.

"You there, show yourself." Murdoch called moving to follow, but Trent Derby touched his arm.

"He is gone. Serge is like a phantom when he wants to be, you will not find him unless he wants to be found."

Murdoch frowned but turned back to the dressing room.

"Madam Tasha these gentlemen are with the police. Lizzy has been murdered," Terrance said it softly. Tasha slumped back into the chair and both Derby men rushed to her.

"How, where?" she murmured, shooing the hovering men away. Murdoch had her pegged for a will of iron and the cold steel in her eyes now proved him right.

He and George questioned her and the other girls, and when shown went through the lockers assigned to Lizzy and Dotty things. They found Lizzy's hat and coat, and even a pair of boots, but not a single clue as to why she would be in a cemetery in the middle of the night.

"No luck?" Brackenreid's first words as they walked back into the precinct. Murdoch shook his head but went to the board and added Terrance and Trent's names.

"Well call it a night Murdoch, and we'll pick this up in the morning." He said as he turned and headed for his office. Murdoch eyed him for a moment, but picked up his hat and headed out the door. Something was niggling him; it was not like Brackenreid to send them off like that, especially not with a serial murderer on the loose.

George was also about to leave when Brackenreid bellowed his name and he scuttled into the inspectors office. Murdoch watched them through the windows for a moment but, since he could not hear what was being said, it was pointless wondering and he headed out the door.

He was at home, in his bed trying to read one of the medical journals he'd gotten from the public library, when his brain suddenly gave him a very clear picture of Julia's hair.

"Another red head..."

Auburn. Like Julia's hair.

Julia had gone in to speak to Brackenreid, and Brackenreid had sent him home, but not George.

He was up and pulling on his clothes before he even realized it, his brain already sending him the signals as it also sent him the answer to the puzzle of both Julia and Brackenreid's behavior.


	6. Chapter 6

She tried not to let the eerie stillness get to her, she worked with the dead, she did not fear them. But this was a lot scarier than her mortuary.

Julia moved towards the bench and sat down, she knew the inspector was close by as were George and Henry, but every rustle in the bushes made her heart leap and every hoot of an owl made her want to get up and run.

"Pull yourself together Julia Ogden!" She muttered to herself, and wondered why she suddenly reminded herself of her sister.

The longer she sat there, the more jittery she was getting. After an hour she knew she had to get up and move around or she would go completely insane. Julia strolled along the path a ways, as if checking to see if anyone was coming,

George gave her a little wave from his post crouched down behind a massive angel statue. She could see by the wince of pain on his face that the hour crouched in one place was already causing him pain. It calmed her a little and she went back to her seat.

Three hours later she decided to call it a night and head back toward the gateway, pausing to adjust her footwear at a very large stone angel.

"It's not working, I'm going back to the mortuary," she murmured to the men hiding behind it, then rose and moved on.

Brackenreid was not far behind her as she entered the mortuary.

"Bloody waste of a good evening," he snapped, Julia sighed and nodded, "maybe he is killing them somewhere else and dumping them in the graveyard."

Julia frowned, "impossible, Dorothy was killed where we found her. There were too many signs of struggle, her shoes were in the tree I hardly think a killer is going to toss her shoes up a tree."

"They actually did both start the evening off somewhere else," Murdoch's voice held a distinct snarl to it as he stepped into her office. Brackenreid grimaced but stepped firmly in front of Julia, even he was wary of the utter rage in his Detectives eyes.

"Dotty was not a victim of chance, I imagine she was either followed there or lured there, as was Lizzy." He'd not moved further into the room, but the look he gave Brackenreid was not friendly though mild compared the look he gave Julia.

"Setting yourself up as bait..." The last words were forced from between clenched teeth and he took another step forward.

Julia thought very seriously about staying behind the Inspector, but she had never been a coward and she was not about to start now.

She moved forward and tapped Thomas on the shoulder, "It's late inspector," she said gently, "I imagine Detective Murdoch will have a number of other ideas on how you can apprehend this monster, but I have an early day tomorrow."

Brackenreid narrowed his eyes at Murdoch but finally had to bow to manners. With a nod he doffed his hat, "Doctor Ogden, you are indeed a very brave woman. Thank you. Murdoch, I expect a full report on this theory in the morning," he ordered and brushed past Murdoch.

Her knees wanted to shake, not from fear, she knew William would never harm her in any way, but the intense look in his eyes both aroused her and titillated her.

"I'm going home Detective..."

He was on her so fast all she had time for was a stifled yelp. One hand cupping her head, holding her still the other like an iron vice around her waist,Murdoch kissed her. Hard and deep, there was no pity in that kiss, no tender exploration, it was a claiming, conquering and it demanded complete submission.

Julia had one tiny second of indecision, before she flung her arms around him and met his challenge with a passionate heat that rocked them both. The kiss went on and on, until just as suddenly as he'd grabbed her, he pushed her from him and stepped back. His face pale with a combination of fury and need. Julia stumbled back until she was half sitting and half sprawled on her narrow desk.

"Blast it William, if you walk out that door again without finishing what you have started, I will hunt you down and shoot you myself," she snarled. The expression on his face was so shocked and confused she would have laughed if she had not been so very afraid that he would leave.

"Julia!" It was said in precisely the same tone of reprimand Nanny had used on Ruby every time she swore, which was often.

She rolled her eyes, straightened, and hooking both hands into his lapels yanked him closer, he came a lot easier than she'd expected a sure indication that he was letting her.

"I'm going home William. I am going up the stairs to my bed chamber. I'm going to take all my clothing off and climb between the sheets completely nude," she couldn't be absolutely sure, but it looked as if he went slightly cross-eyed for a moment.

"Now you can stand there and postulate on how I'm at fault for everything, you can even go home and try and get some sleep sure in the knowledge that your pride is very much intact," she reached up and nipped his lip hard and this time he was the one gasping, "or you can come with me."

Murodch had his arm around her waist and was hurriedly urging her out the door at a near trot before she'd fully comprehended that they were moving.

"I do not postulate," he informed her.

She would have laughed, but at the speed he was moving her out of the building she was more than a little breathless. He didn't hand her up into the carriage, he lifted her up bodily and put her in it.

Julia had to admit his obvious haste was very gratifying, but she was suddenly filled with trepidation. Once this bridge had been crossed there would be no turning back, no going back to the easy friendship of before, or even the gentle courting. They would be well and truly involved.

This thought kept her so occupied that it took a good ten minutes for her to realize that Murdoch was sitting ramrod straight on the seat beside her, face stonily focused out the window on his side and he'd not said a word to her.

"If you are having misgivings William it is quite alright. I won't really shoot you." She said, trying not to let the hurt make her voice warble. Murdoch turned to look at her, his eyes stormy with emotions, none of which she could name.

"I'm trying very hard not to give in to the urge to throw up your skirts and have you right here," his tone was calm but his voice shook a little, "so no Julia, I am not having misgivings, I sincerely pray you are not either."

Since Julia was still trying to get the image of him tossing her skirts up and doing all sorts of wonderfully wicked things to her out of her head, all she could manage was a squeaked denial and a very vigorous head shake.

It took her another three minutes after that to realize there were not heading to her home. She frowned and put her head closer to the window, "we are going in the wrong direction." She muttered and lifted her hand to bang on the wall for the driver when Murdoch grabbed her hand and brought it down.

"He is going where I told him to go." He said, still holding her hand. When his thumb caressed her knuckle, she lost her train of thought, but only for a moment. Gently tugging her hand out of his, she turned slightly to face him.

"And where is that?"

Murdoch snagged her hand again and raised it to his lips, the man was definitely becoming an expert at distracting her. By the time she'd recovered from the gentle kiss he'd delivered on her wrist, the carriage had stopped.

They were on a small quiet street in front of a stunning red brick Queen Ann house, complete with little witches hat turret and bay window. Murdoch helped her down watching her face as she moved closer to the house.

"Is this your house William?" She asked. Murdoch nodded still watching her.

"It's wonderful." She said as she moved down the little drive. The house was farther back than it's neighbors. It sat snuggled in a nest of trees and it was only as she got closer she saw that it was in the midst of being renovated. There was still a lot of work to be done, even to her eyes, but it already showed a small hint of how beautiful it would be when finished.

"I don't understand." She said stopping at the foot of the steps. "Even this run down, the house is worth a small fortune, and the work involved in fixing it... William why would you go to all this trouble?"

He smiled and indicated she should precede him inside, "this was my mothers family home. It was left to my sister and myself after my Aunt died. We rented it out for a while, but it has been standing empty for many years."

The inside showed the same scattered signs of work done, work being done and work to be done. The staircase wound in an arching curve from the huge foyer up to the next floor. William did not take her around as she expected, instead his hand on the small of her back gently urged her up the stairs. She let him, there was a sense of urgency to his touch that reflected her own.

Half way up the stairs she stopped suddenly and turned to him, despite what he had said in the carriage, she found it hard to let go of the nagging self-doubt that plagued her. She'd practically thrown herself at him, was he simply reacting to that or did he have deeper feelings for her?

Her one sojourn into the world of sexual passion had left her scared for life and not even close to satisfied. The man quickly forgotten and the act itself disappointing and brief, and despite the fact that William had already shown her unbelievable pleasure, she could not settle for just that. She wanted him, all of him, not just his body or his bedroom skills, she wanted him to open his incredible mind to her, then give her his very guarded heart and his complete trust. She wanted the impossible.

And while all this was going on inside her head, he stood watching her, waiting, one eyebrow raised in question.

"I thought I was the one that lived inside my mind?" He murmured with a small smile that did nothing to hide the tension in him. It was that which decided her, the fact that he held himself so tightly in check.

"I'm sorry William, I just didn't want you to feel obligated..." she stopped and winced, that came out sounding completely idiotic.

_Obligated to... what? Service me? Bah!_

He was right, she too lived inside her head and it was not a good place to be right at that moment.

Whatever she would have said next was lost in the horrifying second she found herself upended and tossed over his shoulder. Her little hat flew off along with a good portion of her hairpins, and her corset cut off any chance she might have of actually pulling air into her lungs. She suddenly had great sympathy for the, until now, much envied damsels in romantic novels. This had to be the very worst way to travel.

Thankfully it was brief, when he lowered her onto a soft surface she dragged in a loud gasp of air and fought to keep her hair from completing the suffocation her underwear had begun. Murdoch must have realized things were not going well for her, for he hauled her to her feet and pounded her on the back with enough vigor to send her flying forward and nearly falling over.

"Stop!" She finally managed to gasp, and leaning over at the waist gathered as much of her hair as she could she twisted it into a rope and tossed it back as she straightened.

Murdoch's concerned face filled her swimming vision and she stepped back, her knees hit the edge of what she now knew to be a bed and she sank gratefully onto it, still trying to catch her breath.

"Julia?" He hovered not sure what to do or how to help her. Julia decided it was much easier to show him than explain, and with a quick and nimble move slid out of her jacket and opened her top. The corset had shifted and was still digging into her ribs it was also was now pushing her breasts up like two sacrificial offerings. His eyes seemed to snap to them and stay there.

"Corset!" She pointed out. He frowned, shook his head, then narrowed them at the corset and understanding dawned. With a quick dig into his pocket he took out a small folded pocketknife and before she could stop him, sliced through the corset and yanked it off her, sending the remaining buttons of her shirt shooting in all directions.

Julia decided on dignity over practicality and did not give in to the urge to slap him for the loss of her favorite corset. Especially not when his face went slightly pale and she felt a cool breeze on her breasts. Looking down she realized he'd inadvertently cut through her chemise too.

"William!" she snapped, plucking at the soft embroidered remains of her chemise and then suddenly his lips were on hers and she was lost in a maelstrom of heat, need and pleasure.

They sank back on the bed, his weight pushing her into the mattress, and she cursed the petticoats and skirts that held her legs captive and kept her from wrapping her legs around him and truly feeling him.

Murdoch appeared to share her frustration because he broke off the kiss, buried his head in her neck and groaned. Then his tongue started tracing the line of her jaw and she desperately tried to pull at her clothing, but he was pressed so fully on her she could not move them.

Those nibbling licks and nips were moving from her neck downward, and the lower he got the more frantic her hands tugged at the skirts. Murdoch was not helping her, if anything he put more of his weight on her as his hands slid up and gently traced the underside of her breast.

When his mouth followed she stopped thinking completely. Her hands fell limply at her sides.

Dear god it was heaven. His fingers were a little callused and the rough abrasion on her sensitive skin was so erotic she arched up for more. When his tongue soothed the tiny scraps it sent shock waves of need down her body. He paid homage to her breasts, fingers and tongue brushing and lathing, deliberately avoiding the puckered tips that so begged for his attention.

Julia felt dizzy and hot, her entire body felt as if it was catching fire starting with her breasts. She groaned, tugging at him frantic for something, she just didn't know what.

William stiffened and rolled off her, his breath coming in gasps. She felt suddenly cold and instinctively crossing her arms over her chest, turning to curl away from him, the rejection like acid on her heart, but he stopped her, leaning up on one elbow he took her chin and turned her face to his.

"I'm sorry Julia, I want this to be perfect for both of us. If I don't slow it down I'm going to embarrass myself." He whispered. Julia blinked at him a few moments as understanding dawned, then she grinned at him wickedly.

"Well I do owe you..." She couldn't finish that, mostly because she didn't know the wording one used in this situation. She didn't flounder for long because he laughed, dropped a disappointingly short kiss on her lips and sat up, pulling her up beside him.

"Stand up Doctor. Lets get you out of those clothes." He ordered with a wicked smile, since her corset and chemise were in tatters and her jacket flung to some far corner, Julia was naked from the waist up even before she rose to her feet. It was strange but she suddenly did not feel in the least self-conscious any more. The look in his eyes was so heated, and filled with adoration and lust, it made her feel beautiful and desirable, and it made her want to dance naked just to watch him, watching her.

"Detective! How lewd." Her snicker ended in a yelping gasp when he pulled her between his knees, and flicked a tongue over her nipple, as he gently closed his teeth on her the look in his eyes aroused her almost as much as his mouth did. There was a warning, a sense of something untamed barely leashed and dangerous. When her skirt slid down her legs, she blinked at him in surprise. The man had more knowledge on the workings of female clothing than was decent.

The blink turned into a frown when her petticoats followed, and when he reached for the tie of her bloomers she narrowed her eyes at him.

Seeing the storm brewing on her face Murdoch grabbed her waist and lifted her out of the waves of material at her feet and tossed her on the bed beside him. He stood this time, and she glared up at him once again trying to tame the wild curls tangled around her.

"Just how many women have you helped loose their clothing?" She snapped, blowing a wayward curl off her nose.

He snatched a tiny foot that was getting ready to kick at parts of him that he'd rather not have bruised, and tugged off the boot, keeping an eye on the other one. The heels on that footwear would do some serous damage.

"I have a sister," he tried, it was not exactly a lie and he hoped she would be content with it. Grabbing the other foot he pulled at the laces, trying not to let his eyes wander down the length of those glorious legs to the open seam of her bloomers and the prize that lay in the dark shadows.

"Your sister is younger than you, and you left home when she was fourteen, Detective," she snapped trying to kick him away. William dropped the boot and held both her feet against his chest, right over his heart.

"It's not what you think Julia, but I do have a past. Are you going to let it spoil this?"

She tried to glare at him, but when his thumb started rubbing soft circles on her the arch of her foot she melted. She had a past too, throwing stones at him would just be stupid.

She let him caress her foot for a moment, then arched a brow, "I'm afraid you have me at a disadvantage Detective," she grinned at him tugging at his still very clothed body, seeing the wicked humor dancing in her eyes he lifted her feet and kissed first one arch and then another, brushing his day's growth of stubble over the underside and making her squirm and laugh.

"I like you at a disadvantage, it makes things between us fair," he said letting his hands wander along the delicate bones in her foot and ankle, and up over her calves. All humor left her face as he rested her feet on his chest and ran his hands even higher up her leg, stopping at the back of her knees just to drive her a little wilder.

Her knickerbockers were not sown as some of her newer ones were, and suddenly she was very glad that they were not as his hands slipped through the open inner seam and along her thighs, spreading her legs wider as he went. His thumbs met at her center and she arched up against him, desperate, hungry, needing.

"William." It came out a whimpered plea.

"Yes?" One of his fingers circled around the cluster of nerves that made everything inside her tighten and ache with need.

"I want you." She groaned, her hands closing over his arms holding his hands still. When he stopped and drew back she let him go, just watched him with a hunger in her eyes that drove him almost insane.

He stripped down to the skin so fast she was still trying to wiggle out of her knickerbockers when he yanked them off her, drew her knees apart and settled himself full length on her.

His upper body and arms were thick and powerfully built it made her feel small and dwarfed by him, even more so when his arms bracketed her and she had a moment of panic. She'd forgotten he'd been a lumberjack, his clothing and manner hid the raw masculinity of him.

"Julia?" He kept much of his weight off her, but she could feel the hard length of him pressed against her. Julia looked up into eyes that were black with emotion and need, and all her fear faded away, burned to ashes under her own emotions and needs.

"Love me." She ordered gently, reaching up and drawing his face down for a kiss. He took her mouth thrusting his tongue inside and then lapping and sucking at her lips while his hand slid between them and guided himself to her entrance. She braced for the thrust, the pain, the disappointment that did not come.

He breached her slowly, so very slowly it was both teasing and fulfilling, feeling him slide into her, just a little bit, stretching her to a point just short of pain that was so arousing she lifted her legs and wrapped them around his waist urging him deeper, but he withdrew. Her little moan of distress bought her a hard kiss and a nip on the lip just as he pushed in again, just a little bit further before he once again withdrew. He did this over and over, tiny undulations that drove her insane with need, and made her body weep and shudder.

Frustrated, aroused beyond reason Julia grabbed his shoulders trying to pull him closer, urge him faster, harder, deeper, but he resisted even while the sweat gathered on his brow, the agony etched in his face. All fear, and anticipation forgotten, Julia's mind shut down and her body took over. Her hips tilted up and she impaled herself on him with an ecstatic cry.

It snapped the last thread of his control, with a shout of surrender he slid one arm under her shoulders and the other under her hips and drove into her with a barely controlled power that tore a scream from her throat. He pounded into her over and over, driving her up the bed and then yanking her back down. It was hard and prima. It drove her higher and things inside her tighter and tighter, until it became an almost unbearable ache that every thrust wound tighter.

William growled something unintelligible and drawing back onto his knees, dragged her limp and trembling form up with him. It pushed him even deeper inside her and her head fell back in complete surrender as he thrust up, the angle hitting a spot inside her that shot her up and over and kept her screaming and shuddering as wave after wave crashed through her. When he gave one final thrust and his mouth close over hers combining both their cries of completion, and they fell back onto the bed panting and shuddering.


	7. Chapter 7

She felt so good in his arms, tucked up against, his side her leg thrown over his, her hands drawing lazy circles on his chest. For just a moment he thought about remaining silent, letting this moment of peace and closeness glide into the next bout of passion that her hands and her body was even now awakening. But he couldn't, he was not a man that shirked his duty, nor did he hide from a confrontation, even temporarily.

Her hands had stopped the lazy circling and were now wandering with a purpose, when she lifted up on one elbow and started following the course of her hand with her mouth, he knew he had to speak.

"I want your word that you will not attempt to go undercover again," he said, his voice suddenly horse and shaky. Her hands had reached their objective and her month was on its way there.

"I am already undercover, I'm afraid you are much too late," she chuckled peeking at him from under the blankets, when she dipped down and slid a tongue around his navel he knew he'd have to speak now or not at all. With an audible groan he grabbed her hand and held it away from a very tender part of his anatomy, it would not do to have her getting worked up and twisting things... painfully.

"I meant your little attempt at bait Julia," he said firmly. She shot upright instantly, dragging the blankets up leaving him cold and bare to the waist and her magnificently oblivious to her own nakedness. Despite what they had just done repeatedly, he still could not look at her naked form and not want to ravish.

"Little attempt?" there was a warning in her voice, and another one in her eyes. Unfortunately he was too busy trying not to give in to the urge to sit up and take a mouthful of breast and damn the consequences.

"You could have put the entire investigation in jeopardy, not to mention your own life," it was the last that made him draw his full attention to her face. He could survive almost anything except the loss of her.

"Oh!" She was so angry she could not even get the words out, and he winced as she started to bounce off him and the bed. Deciding to take Brackenreid's advice he hooked an arm around her waist and swung her back onto the bed. It took his entire strength, both arms and a leg to hold her there, not to mention the bruises he'd have from her very sharp fists, and the perforated eardrum from her screech of outrage.

"Let me up this instant!" Julia not only found the words, but she appeared to have found the volume too as she roared in his ear.

"No." He stated, and waited for the next bout of struggling to cease. He had to give her credit, she was strong and determined, but when he leant down carefully avoiding those snapping teeth and kissed her neck, she went still.

A soft trail of kisses along her neck and up her cheek to her lips brought him face to face with her, and while her face was flushed with passion, there was a very cool look in her eyes.

"Just give me you word, and we can carry on where you left off," he nipped at her lip, "your exploration was getting very interesting."

"You do not wish my teeth anywhere near your anatomy right now Murdoch, now let me up." Her cool voice made him back up and blink at her. Then deciding Brackenreid was as clueless about women as he was, he immediately let her go.

"Julia..." he rose with her, looking around for his underwear. When he finally had them and his trousers on, he looked up expecting to see Julia still dressing, women had so much more to put on, but she was already very nimbly twisting her hair up and shoving her hat on her head.

"I would probably have accepted your worry for my safety Detective Murdoch, but since your priorities seem to be the case first and everything else after, you can go directly to a very hot place!" she snarled and when he reached for her she threw her rolled up corset at him.

It hit him square in the face and knocked him back a step. The thing weighed at least ten pounds, how did women walk around with that strapped to their bodies every day?

Tossing the thing aside, he slipped on his shirt and was reaching for his shoes when he heard her scream. All reason deserted him and he shot out of the room, down the stairs and out the door, impervious to the frozen ground in his thin shirt and his bare feet. Her second scream drove him to running over the uneven ground and out onto the street.

A large dark figure tossed a still struggling Julia into a blackened carriage and jumped onto the back as it took off. Murdoch did not think, he reacted on pure instinct and ran after it knowing all the while with a growing desperation that his human legs were no match for a horse. As the carriage started to pull further and further away from him he let out one lone bellow of rage.

"Julia!"

The breath was burning in his lungs and his feet slipping on their own blood, but he could not stop, as if some part of him knew if he stopped running she would be gone for good. It was as his leg gave out and he tumbled to the ground, that he heard the smashing of glass and something fly out of the carriage. It tumbled along the ground over and over, barely missing being hit by a wheel. The vehicle slowed but when he rose and ran forwards, the big bulk on the back banged on the roof and it took off again.

He landed by her side in a knee slide across the cobbles. She lay face down, so still he was suddenly terrified to touch her. Gathering her gently into his arms he turned her over, there was a nasty graze on her chin, and a dark welt across her forehead, but her eyes fluttered up and he gave in to the sob of relief that erupted out of him and held her to him with all his strength.

"William, if you squeeze me any harder I just might never be able to walk again," she muttered against his chest, then moaned when he abruptly loosened his hold and glared down at her. There were tears in his eyes, but they did not cool the very hot rage in them.

"Are you hurt?" he asked, running a hand over her body, Julia let him fuss for a bit knowing that when he was convinced she was unharmed he would probably loose the hold he had on his temper and she'd be in for it.

She pushed herself up and took an inventory of all her aches and pains, as far as she could tell nothing seemed broken. Lifting her hands to push back her hair she stopped and stared at them, the palms were full of blood. Julia frowned and searched around looking for a bleeding wound and noticed his feet.

"Oh William! Your poor feet." She shoved him back trying to get to his feet, but he was not budging an inch. Instead he grabbed her hands in one of his and took her chin in the other.

"I want to solve this crime Julia, I want to solve it so that I will not have the blood of every woman this person kills before I catch him, on my hands. But if anything happened to you it will end me and the monsters of this world will have won."

Tears formed in her eyes and she let them fall, for someone who could not get two words of emotion out of his mouth if his life depended on it, he was incredibly affective when he did.

"William." She sniffed, and tugging her hands out of his she cupped his face and kissed him.

The loud throat clearing pulled their dazed attention back to the present and they both looked up at the very large woman frowning disapprovingly down at them from her upstairs window.

"Oi, none of that 'ere now, or I'll be emptying the chamber pot on ye!" She snapped.

Julia was the first to recover, "there has been a carriage accident Madam, this man has been hurt. Kindly bring me some water and something to bandage his feet with," she said it with such a firm voice of absolute authority the woman bobbed what could only have been a curtsy and disappeared from the window.

Murdoch grinned at her, "you would make a fine general Julia, but your commanding presence aside, I am quite able to walk."

She grabbed his nearest foot and gave it a yank upwards, Murdoch sprawled backwards with a yelp, and she caught his other foot and brought it onto her lap.

"You'll get blood all over your dress," he said sitting up and trying to tug his feet out of her grip, but she gave him one warning look and went back to muttering and shaking her head over his feet. He leant back on his hands and let her, the pain in his feet was minimal compared to the agony he'd suffered when he'd realized he could not save her.

"You threw yourself out of a moving carriage and you're muttering about a few cuts on my feet?" There was a snap of repressed anger in his voice, much as he was glad she was sitting here with him safe, he was still simmering inside at the thought of what might have happened.

Julia tossed back her hair, and Murdoch nearly swallowed his tongue. The top buttons of her jacket had come undone showing far more of her breasts than was decent. He automatically reached out to close the buttons only to have his hands firmly slapped away.

"Liberties Detective!" She said primly, but he could see the smile in her eyes.

"Modesty Doctor." He responded nodding to her chest.

Julia looked down and shrugged, "I have evening gowns with lower cuts than this, don't be such a prude." She chided. Murdoch narrowed his eyes at her, and with a warning growl at her raised hand he snapped her jacket closed and buttoned it up.

"We'll be having that discussion when the time comes." He said with a sigh, it was just dawning on him that having a modern forward thinking woman for a wife was going to have its own set of problems. Whatever answer she would have made was lost when the woman from the window came out arms fully loaded with water jug a basin and half a sheet.

"Begging your pardon Ma'am I thought you were one of those women," she gasped as she handed Julia the items one at a time.

"It's fine, do you have any ointment?" she asked pouring the water into the bowl.

"I's has some Zam-buk my cousin sent me from New York? She got it from..."

"Get it please, and don't worry you will be reimbursed." Julia snapped. William winced at her tone and then again at the cold water on his feet.

"Oh, that's alright Ma'am, I have plenty of it." The other woman said with a smile as she moved back into the house.

"She's trying to help." Murdoch said in soft reprimand. Julia frowned up at him in confusion, then rolled her eyes.

"I know that and I will thank her profusely once I'm done tending to you, but right now the quicker I get these wounds cleaned and bandaged, the less chance there will be of you ending up with an infection from the dirty street and possibly loosing one or both of your feet."

That shut him up, and he sat back and let her work. It did not stop him from watching her, and it certainly did not stop him from wanting her, which made things very uncomfortable in his trousers.

It took Julia two minutes to slather the eucalyptus smelling ointment on his feet and bandage them, and another ten to have the man of the house help Murdoch to his feet. It took even longer for her to try and convince him into a wheelbarrow brought around for the sole purpose of taking him home. He put his foot down on that one, but did accept an arm to lean on.

Once back at the house, she paid the man and his wife generously and followed Williams hobbled steps into what would one day be a sitting room, but now only had bare walls and a very ugly couch.

"You must stay off those feet for a while William." She snapped trying to push him onto the couch. Murdoch put his arm around her waist and pulled her down with him so they both ended up sprawled on the couch.

"I could get off my feet with a little incentive," he murmured shifting them around until she was lying across the couch and he was settled next to her.

"I have to go home William. Jarvis will be worried and I don't want him calling father," Julia sighed, wiggling a little to try and dislodge the leg he'd swung up to hold her in place.

Murdoch just grinned at her and started opening the buttons of her jacket one by one, following each inch of revealed skin with his lips.

Jarvis, father and the entire world faded into oblivion. He watched her as he did it, watched her with eyes of hot melted chocolate and she couldn't look away, couldn't even close her eyes, all she could do was loose herself in his mesmerizing gaze.

"You taste like flowers," he murmured as the last button slid out and the jacket fell open.

William pulled back a little and looked at her. She shivered, even his gaze felt hot, but not as hot as his hands, or as deliciously rough. For a man who had not done manual labor for many years he still had very calloused hands. He cupped her breast and slid his thumb over the tip, pinching her nipple hard enough to make her arch up, she felt the vibrations all the way down her body. His mouth followed soothing the little hurts his hands had caused, lathing, nipping and suckling from one breast to the other, over and over until she was squirming in his arms, tugging at him, needing to feel the weight of him on her.

Julia cried out both in shock and disappointment when he suddenly stopped and lifted her up until she was lying atop him. Murdoch gave her a hard silencing kiss as he pulled up her skirts, moving her until she was sitting astride him.

Julia gasped for breath, quivering, her eyes locked to his she eased upright, savoring the feel of him between her thighs, under her and at her mercy.

It was an incredibly liberating feeling, not to mention arousing. The hard ridge she was sitting on a sure indication that he was as aroused as she.

"This is better than riding a bicycle," she gasped, William's eyebrows rose and he fought back the urge to take charge, watching her discover her own power was an aphrodisiac beyond compare.

"We are not permitted to sit astride a horse, but I must admit I have on occasion been tempted," Julia's hips started moving, undulating against him and he groaned. What she did not know in practice, she definitely made up for in instinct.

"We?" Murdoch hoped she didn't notice that it came out in a very undignified squeak, or that sweat was forming on his brow. Her breasts were swaying gently with every more she made and he gave in to temptation to lurched up for a little nip, his efforts were rewarded when she held his head closer to her.

"Women," she managed around a moan as he used tongue and teeth to drive her insane.

The feel of his mouth on her breast, his hands on her bottom was enough to drive her right to the very edge. But she wanted more. She wanted, needed, to feel him fill her, but she had no idea how to ask.

"William?" it came out a gasped cry, a plea, the fire in her womb was becoming an ache and she could not stop herself from moving faster, rubbing herself along him harder and it still was not enough.

Murdoch lifted her slightly off him, holding her in an iron grip, stilling her frantic movements.

"Hold still Julia," he ordered harshly. Julia froze above him, her thighs trembling with the effort it took her to obey against her body's urges. He didn't keep her waiting more than the second it took him to release himself and position her above him.

"Slowly," he said through clenched teeth as he grabbed her hips and eased her down. Julia clawed at his chest, the feel of him filling her, stretching her to the brink of pain, was almost unbearable and she wanted more, she wanted to ride them both to insanity.

"No," she muttered as she squeezed her thighs enough to make him gasp and loosen his hold. She drove herself down on him hard enough to make them both cry out, and she did not stop there, too driven with need she lifted up and slammed herself down again.

It took her no longer than a moment for her body to find the perfect rhythm and movement, and Murdoch's eyes nearly rolled into the back of his head. He took the sweet, tight, torture for as long as he could before he lunged up enough to capture her mouth in a deep kiss.

Julia moved faster and faster, the heat spiraling and building inside until it became an agonizing need for release always just out of her reach. Murdoch wrapped his arms around her, holding her against him and stilling her frantic movement, he flipped them over.

She lay sprawled across the couch, her legs still wrapped around him, her eyes feverish with need. He'd never seen anything as beautiful or erotic as this, and it made him dizzy.

"Watch," he whispered, as he knelt on the floor between her legs, still joined with her. Julia blushed a deep red but pushed herself up and watched as he drove into her deep and hard, speeding up with every powerful thrust until her head fell back and he drove them both over the edge and into bliss.


	8. Chapter 8

"Why kidneys and liver?" Murdoch murmured as he studied his murder board. He felt ashamed that he could not give these women justice; his mind not as sharp as it should be and it was not fully on the task at hand.

"Perhaps he wishes to keep a memento of the kill?" Roberts stepped into the room and Murdoch turned to him, with a welcoming smile.

"Doctor Roberts, how wonderful to see you," he knew he was being a little effusive, but right at this moment the psychiatrist was a godsend.

"I popped in to visit with Julia today and she mentioned you might appreciate another perspective on your case," the Doctors handshake was firm and strong, one of the first things Murdoch had liked about him.

"She is, as usual, absolutely right," Murdoch smiled, amending his mental prayer of thanks to extra gratitude for Julia's ever-amazing mind and intuition.

"If you wish to fill me in on the case I have the time for it," Roberts said putting his hat, gloves and cane down on the desk and settling into a chair facing the board. George nodded in greeting and moved to a corner where he could watch and not be in the way.

Murdoch explained what he could, using the board as a schoolteacher would when emphasizing a point. Doctor Roberts listened, nodded on occasion, but asked very few questions.

"I have checked all the suspects alibi's and all of them are covered during one or both the murders, which leaves me without a single clue," he said in conclusion.

"Perhaps because you are looking for one murderer when I think it could be two," Roberts statement was met with a narrow eyed look from Murdoch, and a gasp of shock from George.

"Two?" Murdoch asked, turning back to the board trying to see what had brought Roberts to that conclusion.

"Yes, I could of course be wrong, but look at the difference in the way they were killed, to the way they were operated on. Surely someone who takes such care to make a clean and precise incision, and has such superior knowledge of the human body, would find a much neater and less brutish way to end a life than breaking their necks?"

Murdoch looked at the board again, a small thought starting to form in his head, "how much strength would he require to break someone's neck?" he asked absently.

"I'm afraid that answer I do not have, however I am sure Julia could either tell you or come up with a way to find out," he said as he rose and collected his things.

Murdoch's mind was only half on his farewells as he studied George's map of the footsteps around both bodies. The strangeness of it was suddenly making a lot more sense. They had not taken into account that there were two killers, now with that in mind it was almost embarrassingly obvious. The killers seemed to almost work in perfect sync with each other. There were no stumbling steps, no overlying footprints. It was as if they moved as one being.

"George we need to take a closer look at the Derby twins alibi." He said with a frown.

"How much strength does it take to break the bones in the neck?" It was his first words to Julia as he strode into the mortuary. Julia frowned at him, she had not seen him since they had spent the night together.

Much as she wanted to bash him over the head with a bucket, she realized this was William and she'd long accepted him for who he was. Trying to change him now would be pointless.

"I'm afraid I can not tell you the exact force that would be needed Detective, I do however know of a way you can find out," she said, noting his eyes narrow at her use of his title and hid a smile, "and I am sure George will be glad to help you, especially since he won't have to wear a dress this time."

"How?" He moved closer, almost close enough to brush against her. Julia sidestepped him and put the table between them. The annoyance changed to simmering heat, she had his full attention now.

"It will involve a trip to the butcher for a goat. It's not exactly the same but it is probably the nearest to a human neck and should give you an idea of the force needed to break the vertebrae," she said before pulling a book off the shelf above her small apothecary's cabinet. When she sat down and started paging through it, Murdoch realized that he had been dismissed.

"Julia are you angry with me?" he asked moving up beside her, careful to keep a respectable distance from her until he found out why she was distancing herself from him. He did not want to cross any invisible lines with her.

"Why would you think that Detective?" She asked, still not looking up from her book.

It enraged him. Whatever uncertainty he'd had was burnt away by the sudden overpowering need to get her attention. To make her feel just a fraction of the longing he'd suffered waiting for her to come to him. He reached down and snatched the book out of her hand and closed it with a snap.

"Dete..." She never got to finish that because he grabbed her face and brought his down so close she could feel his breath on her lips. A small warning bell echoed in her head far too late, he was far beyond annoyed.

"You called me William while I was inside you Julia kindly continue, because if you call me Detective again I am going to remind you right here on this chair what we shared, and I don't care who walks in on us," he said it softly, then closed his mouth over hers, his tongue demanding both entrance and surrender.

It made her head swim and her blood burn. His words, his kiss, his hands holding her in place, and his body so close. For a moment she could do nothing but what he wanted her to, but she was a woman of reason, and she had not fought the great bastion of male learning to become a doctor, just to be controlled by her emotions now.

With a hard shove she sent him stumbling backwards against the cabinet, bottles and test tubes tottered and clinked alarmingly.

"I will call you anything I want Detective," she snarled rising to her feet and quickly putting some distance between them. Brave as she was she did not want to put his threat to the test.

"You seem to be capable of threatening me with public disgrace while unable to find the time to be with me in private, why is that?" She said, and then bit her tongue. She'd not wanted to ask that, she didn't want to show how much it had hurt her.

Murdoch's eyes went from enraged to shocked surprise in seconds flat, "You were waiting for me to come to you?"

In that moment Julia could have slapped him and herself. They had both fallen back into the very thing that had brought them to the brink of loosing each other: not speaking out what was in their heads.

"Well yes, it's your house I can't just invite myself over there," she snarled. Murdoch looked as if she had slapped him.

"Your reputation is on the line Julia, that's why I left the when and where of our getting together up to you," he carefully edged towards her and was rewarded when she did not back away from him again. Gently, as if dealing with a very skittish horse, he slipped a hand around her waist and pulled her against him.

"And that house is ours Julia, do your really think I am fixing it up for myself?"

That stopped her heart for a moment and she dropped her gaze from his. She really did not want to fight with him any more, so she didn't tell him the words that were dancing on her tongue, but she knew she had to soon, before things got too messy between them.

"What is it?" He asked lifting her chin up until she was looking at him again. Darn the man for choosing this moment to try and get into her head.

"Nothing, I'm relieved I thought..." she hesitated then shrugged "I'm not sure what I thought, but I did not like it," she sighed, and winding a hand into his lapels brought him in for a kiss. This time she gave herself over to it completely. When he finally stepped back they were both breathing hard.

"Boxers," she gasped. Murdoch blinked at her and shook his head in confusion.

"I read somewhere that the average blow in a boxing match is 800 to 1000 pounds of force to the head. Enough to knock the opponent out but not break his neck, which means it would have to be a considerable force to actually break it," she explained, going back to the book he'd slammed down on the cabinet. She flipped through it and then, finding what she wanted, she brought it back to him.

"The neck muscles are some of the strongest in the human body, which means that unless the girls were unconscious, which we know from Dotty's shoe that she was not, the neck muscles would have automatically tightened and fought against him."

Murdoch looked down at the diagram of the neck and had to admit it would take a lot of pressure and strength to actually snap someone's neck. Quickly he explained Roberts' theory of two killers instead of one to her.

"William..." she hesitated then grabbed his arm "the man that threw me into the carriage was incredibly strong. He picked me up as if I weighed nothing, and there is something else I've remembered. In the short time I was in the carriage, I got the feeling there was someone else in there with me, it was just too dark to see though."

Murdoch tried to control the sudden flare of rage the mere mention of her near kidnapping invoked, but it took a few minutes for him to be able to think past it. When he did another image tweaked his memory.

The mortuary faded away and he was standing in the passage outside the theater dressing rooms. A figure seemed to evolve out of the shadows. Solidifying only briefly in the light as it flowed down the passage and disappeared in the dark corner.

His mind jumped forward.

He was running out his front door, the figure was struggling with Julia...

He was slammed back into the present. Murdoch blinked and frowned, his emotions were interfering with his brain now too.

"William?" Julia had been standing slightly out of the way, careful not to interfere with his thought process, but now she stepped closer. His response was instant and automatic, his arm slid around her waist and he pulled her into his side. Even the gently caressing brush of his thumb up and down the curve of her waist was both affectionate and mindless.

"Julia..." he stopped and turned to her, holding her by the waist with both hands now, she had a feeling it was more to keep her from taking off than an embrace.

"I'm going to take you home now and I will have a constable outside your house. I want you to stay inside Julia, no going out for any reason." He said sternly, giving her a little shake to show how serious he was.

"I thought it was a random kidnapping attempt, but I think the killers are after you."

Julia narrowed her eyes at him then jutted out that stubborn chin, he had to bite back a sigh. He knew that look.

"How long?"

Murdoch tightened his grasp on her waist when she tried to move away. "I won't risk you Julia and I certainly will not let you risk yourself, so the answer to your question is as long as it takes me to catch him." There was finality to his words that raised her hackles and she tried to pry his hands off her waist. He let her go and stepped back, a small victory and she knew with a sigh, her only one.

"I have a job to do William I can't sit at home waiting for you. I will go home tonight but tomorrow morning I am coming to work," and that was her final word on the matter. Or so she thought.

Murdoch watched her for a moment, her raised chin, defiant eyes and her chest rising and falling with agitated breaths, it was too much temptation even for him. With a growl he hooked a hand behind her neck and around her waist and dragged her against him.

"Fight me on this Julia, at your own risk," he said with a snarl as his mouth took hers in a searing, blood heating, toe-curling kiss. When he pulled back they were both panting. He rested his head on her forehead for a second, trying to find the strength to let her go.

"Maybe instead of going home tonight I should ..." she hesitated, there just was no polite was for a lady to ask the age old question: your place or mine?

Murdoch sighed, dropped a regretful but chaste kiss on her cheek with a shake of his head, "I'm tempted but I have no idea how long I will be working. You will be safest at that fortress of yours," he grinned. Julia laughed, he was right she did have a fortress with its very own dragon in the form of Jarvis her butler.

"Go home take a long bath and get an early night. If all goes as planned, you will need all your energy tomorrow night," that was said with more than a hint of dark promise, and Julia shivered in anticipation. His eyes heated.

Murdoch helped her into her coat and hat, then walked her to the police carriage he'd arranged to take her, and the constable assigned to her, home. He watched it until it disappeared around the corner before turning and jumping on his bicycle.

"What are we doing here Detective? We have told you everything we know," Terrance Derby snapped as Murdoch walked into the interrogation room. Murdoch noticed that, despite the fact that he had the twins put into separate rooms, they still both spoke in the plural.

"We just have a few more questions Mr. Derby," Murdoch said soothingly.

He went from one room to the other, back and forth, question after question and in the end he knew without a doubt that the twins were not the killers.

Then he went back to the board, back to studying the evidence.

"What am I not seeing George? What am I missing?" He murmured as Crabtree stepped into his office.

"You do not think they did it sir?" George asked moving up beside him eyes on the board too.

"No. I still want you to double check their alibis, but no, neither of them have the medical knowledge," Murdoch said on a sigh.

"We still have a team of constables walking the grave yard all night?" he asked as he reached for his hat. George nodded, then winced.

"I'm not sure how long they can keep it up though sir, the men are putting in a lot of overtime," George did not need to mention that he was putting in more than his share of overtime walking the graveyard, mostly because Murdoch had spent every night for the last few nights there.

"I know George." He said with a sigh as he moved out the door. He hadn't made it more than a foot from his office when he was called to the telephone.

"William I'm glad I caught you. I am heading for the mortuary now, I think I might have something of interest," Julia's voice sounded tinny over the line.

"Stay where you are Julia, I will come to you," he ordered, his voice coming out in more of a snap than he meant it too, exhaustion making his temper shorter than it should be. There was a moment of silence on the line before "I have already called a carriage. Also you might as well know I sent your constable home, the poor man was dead on his feet, something about walking the graveyard all night?" she said, and then "I'll be there in a few minutes." And she hung up.

Murdoch slammed the telephone down so hard it cracked in half. "Foolish woman!" he snarled as he ran out the door.

He was at the mortuary in minutes flat, just in time to see Julia's carriage arrive. As he crossed the street towards her some sixth sense made him speed up to a run. Julia was just opening the carriage door when Murdoch saw a figure detach itself from the shadows between buildings and step towards her.

"Julia!" He called sprinting the remaining distance between them and slamming the carriage door closed. He heard her screech and a thump as she was knocked back to the plush interior.

"Stay in there." He ordered placing himself solidly in front of the door. The giant stepped back towards the shadows. Murdoch was torn, he did not want to risk chasing him and leaving Julia unprotected, especially now that they knew there were two of them.

"Stop there!" He called knowing even as he said it that it was useless.

"William, let me out this instant." Julia was rattling the door trying to push it open. In the second Murdoch took his eyes off the assailant to hold the door closed he was gone.

He watched the shadows for a moment more, feeling the man's eyes on him. Murdoch opened the door, pushed a spluttering Julia back into the carriage, shouted the driver instructions and stepped into the carriage with her.

"What on earth..." Julia never got to finish; Murdoch grabbed her by the shoulders and kissed her, hard. When he finally let her come up for air she was hard put to remember her own name.

"Did I not make myself clear about you staying at home tonight?" He asked remarkably calmly for someone who's eyes were on fire. But since Julia was an intelligent woman, and she knew he was on the brink of a monumental explosion, she kept silent. Besides, she did not want to see what the inside of the jail looked like.

"I'm sorry but I was reading an article on ante mortem and postmortem bruising and I really needed to see if I could perhaps get you a hand print." She said, and heaved a silent sigh of relief when anger in his face was replaced by interest.

"How would you do that?" He asked as he settled back taking her hand in his.

"Well I would need to lift the skin around the neck which will hopefully show the bruises that were inflicted as they died. And for that I would have to be where the bodies are William." She said the last with a little snap in her voice. Murdoch gave her a long warning look but did not order the carriage to turn around.

"I need to clean up and change, then I am dropping you off at home Julia. Your handprint theory will be valuable in identifying the killer's when we find them, but not much help in finding them so that can wait until tomorrow."

When the carriage stopped Murdoch leant out the window looking around, before allowing her to follow him out into the well-lit street. He rushed her into the house, closing and locking the door behind them.

Julia took it all with as much patience as she could muster. She was tired, more than a little sickened by the fact that some madman was after her, and emotionally wrung out. That she had any patience at all was thanks to a lifetime of putting up with overbearing males.

"Have I shown you my latest gadget?" Murdoch asked helping her out of her jacket and putting her hat on the stand beside his own. He stopped there a moment and looked at them, his coat, her hat, together side by side, it looked so intimate, so right, as if not having her things hanging there was unnatural.

"You have a new gadget?" She asked with a grin of anticipation, Murdoch took her hand and kissed the palm a wicked gleam in his eyes.

"I do, however there is one stipulation before I show it to you," he said leading her up the stairs, Julia felt her pulse quicken.

"Oh?"

"You have to be nude to see it," he said it so mater of factly that it took her a moment to realize what he'd said.

Standing in the bedroom, Julia felt the heat humming just under her skin, memories of what they had done in that bed were vividly coming back to her. When he let her hand go and started stripping, the heat turned into an inferno.

"Do you need help getting undressed? I am told I'm a very good ladies maid, " He said cheekily as he sat on the bed taking off his shoes. She raised an eyebrow but did not let him bait her with their previous argument.

Then she surprised the hell out of him by shimmying out of shoes and clothes faster than he could take off his boots.

When he was down to his long underwear she was standing there in her chemise, knickers and stockings held up by sexy little pink ribbons, pulling out her hairpins. It was then that he realized she didn't actually undress faster than he did, he just could not stop staring at her.

"Well? Where is the gadget?" She prompted and his mouth snapped closed, he was very afraid if she put a little bit of effort into it she could probably turn him into a mindless, drooling slave. Then again, he was standing there staring at her with his mouth open and his pants around his ankles. In the instant her hair tumbled down around her, even that little bit of reasoning fell out of his head and he just stood drinking her in.

"William?" She said it with a little stamp of her foot. The fact that it sent an erotic jolt through him strong enough to give him an instant erection actually pulled him out of it, and he turned away until he had his body under better control.

"In the bathroom," he muttered. He could feel her eyeing him with confusion and realized his behavior was just making matters worse. With a sigh he turned back to her, and taking her hand lead her into the bathroom.

Julia frowned at the huge funnel like machine with pipes snaking out of it and along the walls and into another contraption mounted on the side of a bathtub, with a curtain around it. Murdoch moved over to it and fiddled with the dials, then started it up.

It hissed, clanged and gurgled and she automatically took a step back. Murdoch did not seem the least worried as he again turned the dials. She was both fascinated and delighted when water showered down into the tub.

"It's hot?" She asked moving closer to the steaming spray.

Murdoch fiddled with the dials a bit more and the steam disappeared.

"It's called a shower," he said as he dropped his underwear and stepped into the tub. Julia blinked and swallowed; every erogenous point in her body went on sudden full alert.

"Just right." He said and offering her a hand in. She wriggled out of the remainder of her clothing and let him help her in.

The water was delightfully warm, but in the moment her body bumped up against his it could have been raining ice cubes and she would not have noticed.

Murdoch held her for a moment, aroused, aching, but enjoying just being close to her. Julia sighed and relaxed against him, and it was then he realized they were both beyond exhausted. Need, arousal and passion turned down to a simmer.

He took up the washcloth and soap and gently washed her, careful to keep her hair out of the running water. She let him care for her, eyes drooping, her entire body leaning into him. It was probably the first time since she was a child that she had felt this cared for or safe. Even when he moved over her breasts and between her legs, the desire hummed hot and strong, but her body stayed relaxed, safe, content.

"Lets get you dried and into bed, you are dead on your feet." He said as he quickly washed himself and jumped out of the tub.

She let him help her out of the shower, and stood docile and sleepy as he wrapped her into the bath sheet.

"Go get into bed while I turn the shower off." He ordered gently nudging her towards the door. Julia swallowed back a yawn and did as ordered.

Turning the machine off took even longer than turning it on. When he stepped into the bedroom Julia was already under the covers, the wet bath sheet hung over a bedpost. Murdoch resisted the urge to tidy it away. A very lady like snore broke the silence and he grinned.

Hanging his bath sheet over hers, he slipped into the bed behind a sleeping Julia, pulling her carefully against him and enfolding her in his arms. She muttered something that sounded like his name before snuggling deeper under the blankets.

Murdoch held her as he let himself drift into a light doze. He could not spend the whole night with her here in the bed, but he would let her have an hour of peace, and himself too.


	9. Apology

I'd like to apologize to everyone following this story for the very long overdue continuing chapters. You have all been incredibly kind in your comments and praise.

Real life in the form of deaths in the family have made it impossible for me to write anything for a very long time.

The good news is that I am committed to getting back into the story, and the wonderful world of Murdoch and Julia, which is made both easier and harder by season 6. (which is IMHO the best season yet!)

Easier because they are such great characters it's impossible not to want to carry on their story, and harder because this ﬁction took place before season 4's wedding ending, and the timeline no longer works with the actual show.

But since this is a work of ﬁction, it allows me to take some cheeky liberties.

Once again thank you all for the great reviews, and watch this space for soon to follow updates.

Blessings.

Pet


	10. Chapter 9

Julia awoke confused, naked and very aroused. Unfortunately she also woke up alone. It took her a few minutes to remember where she was and how she got here.

"I made tea," Murdoch said as he settled a cup of steaming tea on the bedside table. He'd taken the time to put his trousers on but not his shirt. His suspenders dangled loosely, pulling the trousers down a little so that they settled low on his hips, and there was something so quintessentially erotic in that half dressed state that affected her far more than if he'd been completely naked. Julia clenched her thighs together, hedonistically savoring the heavy ache that settled between them while she sipped her tea, surreptitiously peaking at him beneath her lashes. She promised herself that she would paint him like that one day.

"Bless you Detective. You would make someone a very good wife one day." She laughed then winced at the determined look on his face.

"Strange that you should say that," William said, shoving his hands into his pockets looking very uncomfortable. Julia knew instantly where this conversation was heading and her heart stuttered in fear.

"I was going to wait for a better time, but since you brought it up…" He stopped suddenly as Julia's face turn as white as the sheet she was wrapping around herself as she rose from the bed. She moved to the double doors that lead out onto a small balcony overlooking the garden and clutched the railing as if she her life depended on it. Murdoch's heart sank even before her next words.

"I'm never going to marry William, ever." She stated firmly. For just a moment he was sure he had misheard her, but then she turned to look at him with those sad wise eyes and he knew he'd heard correctly.

"Why?" The pain tearing up inside him was already almost unbearable, the thought of going back to living life without her at his side, in his bed, in his life, and belonging to him was ...

"You thought I left you that night to go to Darcy because I cared more for him than I did you." She turned to face him putting a small hand just over his heart.

"It was in fact quite the opposite. I owed Darcy a lot more than just my time. I treated him very poorly, I agreed to marry him knowing full well my heart belonged wholly and completely to another."

Murdoch scowled at her but covered her hand with his, "just enlighten me, is it usual to express your undying love by marrying someone else?"

Julia sighed and leaning into him rested her head against his chest. "It is if you want the person you love to have everything you can not give them yourself." She said softly.

William put her from him holding her by the shoulders, "I'll thank you for my part in your martyrdom but decline, I just want you," there was such sorrow mixed with the anger in his eyes it broke her heart a little bit more.

"You have me, undeniably in every way," Julia said, carefully taking a step back out of his grasp, she knew he would not react well to what she was about to say.

"Just not as a wife. I will be your friend, your colleague and I will be your mistress." She looked him square in the eye when she said the last, refusing to be shamed or cowed by her choice.

William snarled, turned and walked back into the house. She watched him pace up and down for five minutes, every line in his body shouting fury, then she followed him inside and settled on the bed waiting.

"Tell me if I understood you correctly," he snapped, still pacing up and down. He was making her dizzy with it, "everything stays the way it is but for the fact that you will share my bed as my mistress?" He looked over to her in question and she nodded, "that is until I find someone I wish to marry and start a family with?" He stopped again waiting for her nod, which she gave, though slightly slower and more reluctantly given.

He stopped his pacing and stood directly in front of her, glaring.

"And then?" it was asked softly as he leant over her, his face inches from hers, he crowding her back until she was sprawled on her elbows with him nearly on top of her. Then he lowered himself slowly until his body pressed into hers and she had to fight to remember to breath never mind think.

"What happens then Julia, do you…" he pushed a knee between her thighs gently urging her legs wider apart until he was nestled against her, "… leave quietly to go your merry way?" he pushed up against her, Julia's hips tilted up almost on their own accord and she whimpered.

Murdoch's upper body was still braced above her and she tried desperately to pull him down to her, the sheet she'd wrapped around herself was already half unravelled and her breasts ached for his touch. He reached down between them and released himself from his trousers, pushing the remaining sheet out of the way.

"Or do you continue to warm my bed whenever my wife is indisposed to fulfil her wifely duties?" he said that on a snarled hiss as he drove into her in one powerful thrust.

Julia arched up and screamed his name, one long ecstatic cry that drove all thought from his mind and dragged him into insanity. He forgot to be gentle, he forgot to be tender, all he knew was an overpowering need to conquer, to brand his very essence into hers, force her to acknowledge that she belonged to him, just as he would always belong to her. Over and over he drove into her, each thrust pushed her up the bed only to be yanked back down onto him with his bruising grip on her thighs, never once letting up on the punishing rhythm. Julia's hands clawed at his chest, begging him to go deeper, faster.

"Look at me!" He growled, and when she did not open her eyes he stopped dead ignoring the nails burrowing into his chest.

"Look at me Julia!" He ordered through clenched teeth. Julia opened her eyes and focused on him. "I am not some noble fantasy in your head, or some young lad that you need to care for, and I won't be your convenient plaything."

She looked dazed and confused, but there was a frown on her face and the beginnings of comprehension. She stopped trying to get him to move, she would have moved away from him then but his hold on her thighs tightened and he ground himself inside her. She gasped and froze, but stayed focused on him. He could see her amazing mind working as she processed what had passed and knew the moment she realized what he'd said.

The legs that had been trying to urge him along snapped back and she kicked him so hard he had to let her go or risk both of them landing on the floor. By the time he'd recovered she was standing beside the bed and all he could do was stare as he tucked himself back into his pants. She was beyond spectacular, the word that kept jumping into his head was blasphemous but he could not stop thinking it. Gloriously naked, her hair cascading down her back, her breasts heaving with barely contained rage, and her eyes blazing with lethal fire, she was a Goddess.

_And he was an idiot._

It dawned on him too late that he had just insured that Julia would never marry him, in fact he'd be lucky if she ever spoke to him again.

"Julia…" his voice trailed off as she threw up her hand, but it was more the tears in her eyes that made him sink into remorseful silence.

He watched tongue tied as she pulled the sheet back around her body, and swooping up what she could of her scattered clothing disappeared into the wash room.

He seldom lost his temper or his control, and now in a short space of time he'd lost both of them.

"Terrance and Trent Derby's alibi has been confirmed sir. They were both at Miss Anne's on the night Lizzy Bennet was murdered," George met him with as he walked into the precinct the next morning. He nodded his thanks, and headed into his office.

"And Serge?"

"Nothing on the phantom either Sir, no one seems to know where he comes from or where he goes, just that he appears every now and again, runs a few errands and then disappears again." George said, Murdoch did not make comment on the Phantom reference; George had been reading again, his imaginative ability to match fiction to the ugly facts of their job always lightened his mood, except this time.

"Look into Madam Tasha, I have a feeling we missed something there," Murdoch ordered.

To say his head was not in his job right then would have been an understatement. Julia had returned out of his washroom fully dressed and ready to go. Since she was still in danger, he'd forbidden her from going anywhere without either an escort or in his company. Something she chose to completely ignore until he'd threatened to lock her in a closet if she did not wait for him to dress and take her home. She'd stood by the stairs and waited for him, sat beside him in the carriage and let him escort her to her front door all without uttering one word, and as usual when it really mattered he could not find the words, or get them out.

Now he sat at his desk staring at nothing and wondering how he was going to get her to forgive him, and even harder put aside that ridiculous mistress twaddle and marry him.

"I hear your suspects alibied out?" Brackenreid's ability to state the obvious had never irritated him as much as it did at that moment.

"The Derby's have yes, but there is another possible suspect that I can't find yet," he sighed, Brackenreid studied him for a moment then propped himself up on the edge of Murdoch's desk.

"His name is Serge and I am almost positive he is one of the killers but we are having a problem tracking him down, and even less luck trying to figure out who his accomplice is."

"Now normally I would find that astounding. _You_ not coming up with a plan, a gadget or a theory? Impossible. However considering I know what's been going on in your personal life, I am not surprised, so I will just say this…" he took a sip of his drink and placed the empty glass on Murdoch's desk.

"You have picked up the slack for me here on more than one occasion me old chum, so I will return the favour. Take some time, go and get Doctor Ogden and sort out whatever is needed to get both your heads back to the job."

He didn't know who was more surprised, Brackenreid or himself when he rose, took his hat and headed towards the door. The truth of it was he would never be able to think clearly until he'd convinced Julia that she was wrong and made her agree to marry him.

Murdoch had just swung his leg over his bike when the ground started shaking and a deafening roar shattered the windows above him. He dropped the bike and dove against a woman holding a small child, driving them both back against the wall and used his body to cover them from the raining glass.

It took moments that felt like an eternity. When the glass and shaking stopped he stepped back and looked around. There was a fog of dust and glass everywhere, but the precinct stood intact. The young woman cradling her son was speaking to him, but he hardly heard them. His mind was calculating and evaluating, something had shaken the city and it did not feel like an earthquake.

"Sir, thank goodness, we thought the worst." George called as he came running out the door.

"Is everyone inside alright?" Murdoch asked.

"A few bruises from things falling off the cupboards, but other wise fine."

Murdoch put a gentle hand on the young woman's arm and urged her towards Crabtree, "the constable will take you inside and see to contacting your family," he urged her nodding to George.

"Get the men into the street, people will be injured in the buildings and streets needing help, and send someone out to find out what happened." He ordered, "I have to go to Julia," he said as he turned and started running, he did not want to even take the time to unearth his bicycle.

The front of the Coroners office had suffered minor damage from a cart that had smashed through the doors, nearby residence and fire fighters were putting out the small blaze. Murdoch did not see Julia in the crowd of people being evacuated out of the building and flashing his badge he ran inside. She was not in her office and he felt his heart do a painful thump, the place was a shambles, bodies falling out of the fridges and the floor covered in broken glass and chemicals.

"Stay up there, some of the stuff mixing together on this floor is lethal." She called from the opposite end of the lab. She had a handkerchief over her lower face and was sweeping a long broom across the floor, scattering what looked like beach sand as she went.

"I wanted to see if you were alright." He shouted, and the winced at the mundaneness of that statement, obviously that was why he was there.

"Mission accomplished Detective." She said coolly, and he realized neither hell nor earthquakes would defuse Julia Ogden when she was this angry.

"Julia please," was all he could think of saying, he was about to step over to her regardless of the consequences when someone came running in behind him, he put out an arm and halted Darcy's steps.

"Chemical danger on the ground Doctor," he said by way of explanation. Darcy nodded and stopped where he was.

"There has been an accident in the subway tunnel they are building under the city, there are injured down there and we need all doctors and nurses on site," he said. Then turned to Murdoch, "I imagine they will be wanting you down there as well Detective."

Murdoch ignored him his eyes on Julia, "something big has happened Julia and I have no idea of the danger involved for the medical personnel, I think you should …"

"I would never let anything happen to her Detective, but we must hurry." Darcy snapped.

"Then by all means go. I would however prefer Doctor Ogden waited until I have the chance to assess the danger and then escort her there myself," he told him firmly. Darcy turned on him with a menacing frown, and Murdoch pulled himself up straighter, he might be a smaller man in stature, but he more than made up for it in strength.

"Detective I thank you for your concern for my safety, but I really do not have the time for it," Julia's voice came from behind them and they both spun around in surprise. While they had been engrossed in each other Julia had dressed and packed her doctor bag.

"Darcy I am going, kindly show me where."

"Julia…"

She gave Murdoch a look that would have frozen flames and walked out the door without another word, Darcy hurrying after her. Murdoch's fists clenched in helpless rage. It was one thing to love a woman with a strong will, treasure her indomitable strength and be awed by her amazing mind, but it was quite another to stand there useless as she placed herself in mortal danger. He hurried out after them, intent on hauling Julia back bodily if he had to, but they were already lost in the crowd of people out in the street, some dazed and in shock and some just curious.

The dust and smoke was so thick it was impossible to get an overall impression of the fall out area, but the little he did see of it was enough. The tunnel had collapsed in leaving a large deep crater in the centre of the public road. A small hospital tent had been erected mere feet from the edge, something Murdoch found worrisome and what worried him even more was he could not see Julia in it.

"It's about time you got here Murdoch, Chief Stockton is looking for you. It appears no one has any idea what the protocols are in a situation like this."

Murdoch nodded and didn't say what was on his mind, namely that if the leaders of the town had no idea what to do, why did everyone think he would?

"Sir, have we discovered what caused this collapse?" He asked Brackenreid as they moved towards the hospital tent and the congestion of police gathering there.

"They think it might have been an explosion, though whether it was a blast accident or sabotage we do not yet know. The only answers to that are down there in that hole, and we are still trying to get to the survivors." Brackenreid's words were cut off as a large section of the ground close to the hospital tent broke away and slid into the crater, there was screaming and panic both from the onlookers and the police.

"I think the first thing we should do is move that tent and everyone near the edge further away," Murdoch said pointing to the crowds of people, Brackenreid nodded and turned towards the gathering crowd.

"You there, don't just stand around like ninnies, find out who's in charge of that tent and get them to move it, and for goodness sakes get some bloody builders in here to stabilize that ground. No good trying to find survivors if you end up buried alive along with them!" Brackenreid roared, shoving his way through the frightened men. They took one look at him and scurried to do as he ordered.

"Ahh Murdoch, about time you showed up." Chief Stockton' simpering voice made the hair stand up on the back of Murdoch's neck, but he pasted on a bland look as he turned to face his boss.

"Sir?"

"I need answers Murdoch, and Thomas swears you are the man to find them." the tone of his voice said clearly that he had doubts.

Murdoch turned to look down into the deep crater, the dust was starting to settle and he could see a little more, but it was mostly just rubble.

"Sir I would suggest that until we do know what caused this, we should go by the worst case possibilities," seeing Stockton's confused frown Murdoch quickly continued, "which would be sabotage, if we treat this as sabotage then we must assume who ever is responsible is not finished yet and we must act accordingly."

Stockton's eyes narrowed but he waved Murdoch on, "and what would that act be?"

"We evacuate every building that this line runs under, seal off all access to the tunnel not connected with the rescue, and start searching it for incendiary devices and anyone lurking."

Stockton nodded and puffed himself up as he headed towards the activity, Murdoch was relieved to see they were already evacuating the tent and preparing to move it.

"I thought I would find you here Detective Murdoch, it has been a while."

Murdoch fought hard not to groan out loud as Ruby Ogden moved up beside him, he turned and doffed his hat.

"Miss Ogden, this is not a safe place to be at the moment," he started, and then winced, Ruby wrote for a newspaper, safe was not what she looked for.

"I came to check on my sister. I thought she would be in the thick of it, though I did think she might be in it with you," she gave Murdoch a little smile and he tried hard not to snarl at her.

Ruby Ogden was trouble. First class trouble wrapped in a pretty little package. He truly believed that women did have the right to be treated with more equality, and certainly with more respect, but there were some things he felt were still best left to men, and putting yourself into impossibly dangerous situations for a story was most definitely one of them.

"You have that disapproving look on your face again Detective, you seem to get it often around me." Rudy said with that flirty little tilt of her face.

"If you want to be of help Miss, I suggest you go over to the hospital tent, I am sure there is plenty for you to do there…."

The world shook again, and there was another deafening roar, Ruby stumbled into Murdoch and he fought to keep them both upright. The dust rose and filled their lungs, choking them. William pulled his jacket up to their faces as they tried to stagger away. When the rumbling stopped just as suddenly as it had started, they both turned to look towards the crater.

Even through the cloud of dust they could see what had been a deep hole in the ground with firemen's ladders and lamps strung up on ropes going down, was now a shallow dip filled with rubble. The three-storied mansion that had bordered the disaster area had fallen in and filled the hole.

"Julia!" Murdoch groaned running towards the crater, fear, anger, helplessness raging through him, one emotion overlapping the other. Ruby grabbed his arm, halting him a split second before another massive part of the ground in front of them slid into the crevice.

"William stop. We don't know she was down there. I am sure she's in the hospital tent." Ruby called, tugging at his arm. His head whipped around and he blinked at her, her words giving him a hope he clung to like a drowning man.

Holding onto each other like frightened children in the dark, they raced as fast as the uneven ground would allow them towards the slightly damaged and lopsided tent.

"Darcy!" Ruby shouted releasing Williams arm and running towards the tall dusty figure hunched over a stretcher.

"Darcy where is Julia?" She asked as he rose and turned to her, the look on his face was enough and Murdoch stopped in his tracks, he did not need to hear his reply.

"I'm sorry Ruby, so very sorry." Darcy said trying to offer her comfort, but Ruby pushed him away with a loud "No!"

She grabbed his shirt front in her fists and glared at him with a veracious fury that reminded him so much of Julia he felt his knee's shake.

"Don't you dare say it Darcy, Where ever Julia is, she is still very much alive. I would have felt it otherwise, now tell me where was she before the cave in?" She roared at him. Darcy looked down at her with pitying eyes, but Murdoch felt something inside him respond to her words. His mind that had been screaming in panicked circles, until that moment. She had to be alive, even thinking otherwise would give in to the darkness that threatened to drain the will out of him.

"Where did she go, she was supposed to be with you!" He demanded stepping closer. There was no threat in his stance, but Darcy still took a step back while Ruby placed herself squarely between them.

"Look around you Detective, do you really think that she would stay glued to my side when so many need her help?" Darcy asked. Murdoch shoved Ruby closer to Darcy a warning look in his eyes.

"Try not to loose her too," he snapped, then swivelled on his heels and took off at a sprint towards the crater. Brackenreid and George were already there.

"Doctor Ogden was down in the hole sir, I am so sorry." George said as Murdoch came within hearing, he was filthy and his uniform was torn and bloody.

"Where?" Murdoch shot tossing off his jacket and rolling up his sleeves, he lead them a little further away from the hole. His mind screamed her name at him, but he beat it back forcing himself to focus on what he needed to do to save her.

"We think she might have been in the actual tunnel. The constable who saw her go heard the firemen say there were wounded back deeper in the tunnels that could not be moved until a doctor treated them." Brackenreid answered that as he watched Murdoch beckon to a group of shocked servants watching from what was left of the street. They came towards him hesitantly.

"Get tables and chairs, set them up here. We need refreshments, water and medical supplies for light injuries. We also need lamps," Murdoch ordered. The two footmen nodded and jumped to do as bid, but stopped when they had no idea which direction to go in.

"I don't care where you get them from just get them," Brackenreid roared seeing their confusion. At his bellow the two stable hands took off after the footmen.

"George I need you to find as many constables, firemen and rescue workers as you can and bring them here. This will be our command centre, the point where all rescue operations are coordinated from," he looked around with narrowed eyes.

"Sir I need to know exactly where she went," Murdoch faced his boss with all the pain and hope in his eyes. Brackenreid nodded and patted him awkwardly on the shoulder.

"I still have the plans for the tunnels in my office from when they wanted to make me Alderman. I will have them brought here," he said as Henry hobbled towards them, he was using a broken chair as a cane and his foot was wrapped in bandages up to the knee.

"The firemen say they think that there are survivors down in the tunnels, but it we have no way of getting to them," Henry told them as got closer, by the shattered look in his eyes Murdoch new he was talking about Julia.

"We can just follow the tunnel from the beginning," Murdoch said, but Henry shook his head.

"They were on the wrong side of the tunnel, sir I am sorry, but that was the reason they lowered Doctor Ogden down into the hole. The survivors on the other side were taken out through the entrance, it was the diggers and workers on the other side that needed the most help."

Murdoch paced in circles, the same circles his mind was taking. When Henry apologized for the third time he turned and roared like a wounded beast, his cry freezing everyone as it carried over the noise of panic and pain.


	11. Chapter 10

The darkness was thick and heavy, it was like breathing through wet wool. Julia woke fighting for air, clawing at her face. The utter blackness made her already panicked heart beat even faster and she gagged and chocked with the need for more air.

"You needs to calm your breaths Miss," the voice was near her but not near enough to touch. "The air is thick down here 'cause o' the dust and water, but if you's breath shallow like, it will be easier." He sounded young, too young to be knowledgeable on things like that. Julia forced herself to breath shallowly, taking slower breaths. Her head settled and she stopped feeling as if she was being smothered.

"That's twice in one week I've been nearly suffocated, not something I enjoy." Julia muttered as she struggled to sit up. She ran a hand over her body, feeling for broken bones and was relived to find that, aside from what would probably prove to be a few really nasty scrapes and bruises, she was uninjured.

"What's your name?" She called out, needing the reminder that she was not down there alone.

"Billy Dunn, are you the Doctor lady that is come down to save us?"

Julia nodded then realized he'd not be able to see it, "Yes, but you can call me Julia, do you know where we are Billy?"

There was a long silence and Julia wondered if Billy had fallen asleep or lost consciousness, "we's in the tunnels miss." he said it gently as if he thought she was confused or brain damaged.

Julia resisted snapping at him or rolling her eyes, even though he wouldn't be able to see her.

"I know Billy, I should have been clearer. Where exactly in the tunnels are we? Close to the cave in or far away, and where are the others? The wounded I came down here to help? Are we possibly close to a light source, or a way out?" she fired the questions at him fast and hard. Again there was the long silence, it made Julia's instincts fire up. She could hear his breathing now that her ears were taking on the extra sense the loss of vision brought. It was labored and slow, seeming to almost stop in parts.

"Billy, can you move?" She called, gently swaying her arms around her and above her as she tried to find some sort of wall or ceiling, there was nothing. She felt around where she sat and found rubble and rocks in loose piles.

"No Miss Julia, my legs are stuck," Billy's voice was weaker now, almost a whisper. Urgency fired her as she moved onto her knees and tried to crawl closer to where he was, the rubble she crawled over shifted, and stones moved under her cutting into her knees.

"I am coming to you, just keep talking Billy, and stay conscious. I need you to think about my questions," it was an order, spoken in a tone that booked no refusal. Billy responded exactly as she'd anticipated, he obeyed.

"We's in the back part of the tunnel, the part we was working on, there's no way out from this side," he answered his voice a little stronger.

"Alright, that is not good news, but not to worry I am sure they will find a way to get to us, now tell me were the others are?" Getting closer to him inch by inch was both painful and frustrating, but she carefully picked her way along learning to move the looser bits away as she went. For the first time ever she was grateful for the thick petticoats and skirts of modern fashion, they saved her knees from the worst of the damage.

"They be further back Miss. I was on my way to fetch you and the constable when everything started shaking and I woke up here," it was followed by a long pitiful groan, "my legs really hurts," he said, and she could hear he was close to tears.

"How old are you?" she asked her hand brushing across something soft, and her heart gave a little skip of joy when she felt her doctor bag.

With shaking fingers she dug it out of the rubble and opened it, reaching inside, "I have a box of matches…"she winced as something sliced into her finger and snatched her hand out. She had small vials of medicines most of which would have shattered. Putting her hands in there without light was a

sure way of getting herself cut up, but when Billy let out another sob she knew a few cuts on her hand were nothing compared to what the child must be going through.

"You still have not told me how old you are Billy, come on stay awake," she called, taking a breath and putting her hand back in the bag.

"Fifteen miss," he finally replied, but his voice was getting fainter by the second.

"And you work here in the tunnel?" she asked, pulling out as much of the glass shards as she could find, the bag had gone through a good bashing nothing was where it should be.

"Not exactly, I'm going to school," he said it with such pride Julia's heart constricted even more, "but my father is poorly so Mr. Jamison, the overseer, lets me take his place when he can't come."

"He sounds like a good man," she said, and gave a little whoop when she finally found the matches.

"Billy?" She called.

Silence greeted her and she quickly struck a match, it was not much of a light but it was enough for her to see the boy was unconscious and not much further away. She also saw what could be the metal top of a mining safety lamp. The match burnt down to her fingers and she hissed as she waved it out. Trying to mark the spot in her mind, she grabbed her battered bag and made her way towards where she'd seen the lamp. She only had the one box of matches and if the lamp was empty those matches were her only means of light.

It took another two matches for her to get to the lamp and dig it out, oil sloshed in the body of the lamp and the glass felt intact. It took another three matches and some very un-lady like expletives to get it lit.

"My mamma would wash your mouth out with soap," Billy's voice was thin and reedy, but she could hear the laughter in it.

The lamp flickered to life and she held her breath as the wick danced and faded then slowly flared brighter. Carefully she lowered the glass and turned to her patient, the grin slid off her face. He was so white for a moment she thought he was already dead, but his eyes flickered open and she forced her features into a smiling mask.

"She would be well within her right to do it too," Julia said, as she eased closer to him.

Julia lifted the lamp to examine him and tried to keep the shock off her face, the lower half of his body was buried under what looked like a large beam. She frowned and looked closer, it was the kind used in building houses. She didn't know much about building a tunnel, but she was pretty sure they did not use roof beams.

"Is it really bad Miss?" Billy asked, Julia looked up into tired blue eyes.

"It looks like a house fell on you Billy," she said with a sigh, when he blinked up at her confused she explained what she'd just worked out herself.

"I think the last cave in was not so much a cave in as some of the houses above here falling in," she stood and lifted the lamp looked around, the bits of wood, furniture and glass confirmed what she said. What she really needed was something to help her lever the beam off Billy. When nothing immediately jumped out at her, she sank back down next to him and put the lamp down.

"I'm going to examine you now Billy, see if there is anything other than your legs damaged. Just lie still and don't be afraid to shout if I touch something that hurts." She started with his head, gently running her fingers through his hair watching his face carefully for any sign of pain, from there she moved down his body, arms, hands, ribs and abdomen. Aside from some nasty cuts and scrapes, and what could possibly be a cracked rib, Billy's injuries seemed confined to his legs.

"Miss…" he blinked up at her when she sat back and started examining the beam.

"Yes Billy," she answered absently, not taking her eyes off the beam. She knew Billy was bleeding out under that and unless she moved it he would die, but the sheer size and weight of it made it impossible for a strong man to move, she knew she wouldn't be able to.

"If I…" he hesitated on the word and Julia's head shot around.

"You are not going to die, so get that thought right out of your head!" she snapped giving him a determined glare.

"Please Miss, I just need you to tell my Da, that it's not his fault. He was feeling poorly today and I came in for him, he'll blame himself something awful. You have to tell him it's not his fault." He grabbed her arm in desperation. Julia took his hand and leant closer to him.

"You are going to tell him that yourself," she insisted then ruffled his hair gently and stood. She lifted the lantern and took another look around. The tunnel was wider than she had expected, it was also higher, but then it would have to be big enough for trains to move through it. On the one end there was just a massive pile of rubble, on the other the eventual darkness of the tunnel.

"The patients that I came down here to see, how far down that tunnel are they?" She asked. She might not be able to move the beam on her own, but with a few extra hands and a lever she might.

"Not far, just down the tunnel a ways," she could hear the fear in his voice. He'd already worked out that she would need to leave him to go find to the others, and she would have to take the light with her.

Julia was torn, but she knew if she had any hope of saving him she had to go. "I will be as quick as I can Billy, and I will leave the matches for you." She said firmly, handing him the box of matches. With one last look at him she rose and took the lantern.

She did not look back, but she could feel his eyes on the light until she turned the first bend.

Murdoch avoided everyone's gaze knowing they would be filled with pity and concern, and they should be concerned, he was on the brink of loosing his mind. The thought of Julia lying dead and broken under that rubble was making him skirt the very brink of insanity, the only thing keeping him from toppling over the edge is the feeling deep inside him that she was alive and that he would find her.

"As you can see this is the tunnel here, the shaded bits are where they are at the moment." Brackenreid had managed to find the engineer packing his stuff and trying to leave town. He'd been brought back here in handcuffs.

"We didn't know about the caves Sir, we just did not know." He kept saying over and over until Brackenreid had threatened to hand him to the victims families if he did not start being helpful.

Murdoch tried to find some sense in the map, but his mind just could not find a way to get to her. For them to dig through the rubble would take days, and the ground was so unstable that the chances of them causing the rest of the cavern to collapse was too high.

"Where is the geological report?" He asked knowing already what the answer was. The engineer seemed to shrink even further into his ugly suit.

"They wouldn't pay for it, said it was too costly." He wailed. Neither Murdoch nor Brackenreid needed to ask who "they" were.

"We can't figure out a way down there until we can be sure we are not going to bring the whole thing down on their heads, and a good geological report will take weeks to compile," Brackenreid snarled.

"I might be able to help," a voice said softly from the doorway. Murdoch's head shot up and he felt hope for the first time since the world had started shaking.

"Jimmy Mcloud? Thank god!" Murdoch greeted the man with a hearty handshake, he knew he was over reacting but no one seemed to notice.

"Detective Murdoch, it is good to see you too," Jimmy smiled, then turned to the map, "if anyone had bothered to ask my people about the caves we could have mapped them out for you," he said sadly.

"I'm asking Jimmy. I need to know where the caves are so that we can try and dig through to the tunnel safely," Murdoch said opening another map of the town, this a little more detailed.

Jimmy looked at it and then flipped back to the other tunnel, "I can see why that tunnel collapsed here," he murmured, pointing to the exact spot the first cave in happened, "there is a rift running between caves right along here. It runs very close to the surface, and the tunnel will have weakened it considerably and the constant movement and tremors from the work down there, would have collapsed the entire rift. I strongly advise you evacuate the homes along this line here." Jimmy said pulling out a street map of Toronto pointing.

Chief Stanton started spluttering, half of the towns upper class lived on that street, "we can't force all those people out of their homes." He snapped.

When Murdoch started forward Brackenreid held him back, "I will deal with this," he said softly then turned to face his boss.

"We won't be forcing anyone sir. We will however let them know the danger they could be in, leaving is optional." He said it with only a very slight sarcastic tone.

Jimmy was still frowning at the maps when Murdoch turned back to him, "Is that an actual drawing of how far they have come?" He asked Murdoch.

Murdoch reached over and snagged the weasel engineer by the back of his jacket and hauled him closer. He didn't say a word just dangled him in front of the map.

"Yes, it's their exact location," he squeaked, Murdoch dropped him into the nearest chair.

"I think I might have a way of getting down there without any digging," Jimmy said absently. "Are there any other maps?"

George stepped forward with a cardboard box filled with map rolls. He helped Jimmy unroll one after the other, until he stopped over one with different colors on it. He studied it, flipping between that and the tunnel map, then he pulled out what looked like a leather cloth from under his shirt. Murdoch moved closer, the chamois was obviously quite old and fragile and Jimmy handled it with great care and reverence.

"My people have mapped those caves for centuries, each new discovery is added to this guide," he lay it beside the map and taking a pencil out of his pocket, he started copying the lines and squiggles on the chamois onto the map of the tunnel. Murdoch watched him, time ticking off in his head. Julia was down there, alone, in the dark and possibly hurt and afraid. The very thought of that was making him tremble and the sweat break out on his brow. He hadn't realized he was hyperventilating until the room swayed and George caught him as the ground tilted under his feet.

Jimmy stopped drawing and turned to help him, only to be snarled at. "I'm fine, keep drawing!" Murdoch's voice was horse and thin but no less forceful.

Murdoch pulled himself back onto his feet, ignoring the offered helping hand from George and Jimmy turned back to the map.

"Who is down there?" He asked quietly.

"Doctor Ogden," It was George who answered as he handed Murdoch a steaming tin cup. Murdoch waved it away but George pushed it into his hand.

"You won't do Doctor Ogden any good if you pass out," he said sternly. William sighed and took the cup and drank, grimaced at the terrible taste of repeatedly re-warmed tea, debated spitting it out, and ended up swallowing it only because George was right.

It took Jimmy another half and hour to transfer the cave map, to the tunnel map, and another five minutes to confirm his earlier words.

"Here," he indicated to a point where the tunnel and caves seemed to run side by side until a bend in the tunnel turned it away, "at this bend there can not be more than a thin wall of rock between the cave and the tunnel." He turned to Murdoch.

"I can get you to that point, it is not very far, there is an entrance just outside the town. Once there you can break through and get your lady out."

Murdoch patted him on the back in gratitude. With hope and a renewed sense of purpose he swallowed another cup of awful tea and ate a stale rusk while George gathered the firemen and the constables. Darcy proved again that he was a levelheaded man even in extreme circumstances. He gathered strong orderlies, nurses and stretchers along with medical equipment and blankets. Horses from a nearby coach house were used to transport both men and equipment.

"_Hold on Julia, I am coming to get you!" _Murdoch called to her mentally, knowing it was silly and impossible, but somehow he felt her presence just for a nanosecond and it gave him hope.

Julia smelt the fire before she saw its light, relief washed through her as she rounded a bend and saw the dancing blaze. It was quickly replaced by concern, with the tunnel blocked off there was probably not much air coming in and the fire was using up far too much.

"Gentlemen, we need to conserve oxygen, would someone douse that fire please." She ordered as she came closer. There were three men sitting around the fire and all of them turned to her instantly. Another man stepped out of the shadows carrying an armful of wood, from what looked like broken furniture.

"Doctor Ogden?" he asked, Julia nodded holding up the battered doctor bag as proof. She examined the men quickly and felt her heart sink. The big man dropped the wood and moved closer to her, he was probably the only one that could follow her to help Billy, but she wasn't sure even he would be able to move the beam off Billy.

"There is a young boy back down that tunnel trapped under a beam, I need to get him out and treated before I can concentrate on these men as his injuries are far worse." She told him. He frowned looking back into the blackness she'd come from.

"Billy? Billy is still alive?" the voice came from the older man laying on the ground nearest to the fire, his were some of the worst injuries of the three.

"You must be Mr. Jamison the overseer?" She said and he nodded as she lifted his shirt and examined the very worrying bruise that covered his left side. With luck it was just a cracked rib and some bruising, because if it was internal bleeding then he was not going to survive much longer, she certainly could not move him. She held up a hand when the big man started to douse the fire, halting him.

"Mister …" she started, but stopped, and waited, when he didn't immediately supply her with his name she pierced him with a glare, "I'm sorry I don't know your name, and there is no one here to properly introduce us," she snapped.

"It's Samuel ma'am," he said.

"Mister Samuel leave the fire, these men need the warmth and light to ward off shock." She said then, turned and lifted the lantern.

"It's just Samuel ma'am and if you lead the way Patrick and I will follow." He nodded to one of the injured men who stood to follow her and she looked at Patrick.

"It's me leg Doctor, but if Samuel here acts as a crutch for me my arms still work fine and I am strong, we'll get that boy out." Julia realized she did not have a choice and nodded holding up the lantern until the men were ready to follow her. The trip back turned out to be quicker than she expected, and Samuel managed to find a solid iron bar long enough to use as a lever. She hoped it would be strong enough.

Billy was unconscious when she knelt beside him, and she checked his pulse, it was week but steady.

"Is he…?" Patrick asked with tears in his eyes. Julia shook her head.

"He's unconscious, but we must hurry." She moved to Billy's head, clearing as much rubble away from under and around him as she could while the men tried to find the best possible point to lever the beam up.

"Ok as soon as that lifts I will pull him out," she ordered, and they nodded.

It took so many tries Patrick's face was going grey with pain and exhaustion, and Samuel's hands were swollen, but they moved him a few inches at a time and finally managed to get him clear. He woke at the last desperate jerk and screamed in agony.

Julia moved to his legs and her heart sank into her stomach. His right leg was broken in three places as far as she could tell, but it was his left leg that was damaged the worst. It was shattered below the knee, leaving the bone cleaving through the leg and sticking out.

"He will loose the leg," Samuel said flatly. Julia did not reply, Samuel obviously knew his way around a body which she filed away for thought at another time, along with the fact that the last had been said with a very slight accent, one that he'd not had before.

Billy sunk back into unconsciousness and she was glad because what she had to do now was not going to be easy. She lifted the lamp and dug into her bag for her Ether.

"Find me something to splint both his legs with!" She ordered Samuel, then turning to Patrick she made a turn around motion with her hands, already lifting her skirts to pull out her petticoats. Patrick went red and nearly twisted his head off turning it away.

"I need bandages," was all she said as she yanked her petticoats down, thankful for the second time in the last hour that fashion insisted women wear a lot of material under their skirts.

Once she had them off she threw one at Patrick, "four inch strips please, and quickly," she said. Then tearing a few strips off the one in her hand, she pulled out the still intact bottle of Ether and dripped some onto the strips she'd placed over Billy's nose. His breathing deepened and she knew he was out. Then moving the lamp closer, her scalpel in hand she moved down to his legs.

"He going to loose that leg?" Patrick asked moving up beside her, she could see it cost him but he seemed determined to help. He took the lamp and lifted it over where she was working so she could see better.

"I don't know," she muttered as she made the first incision, "I'm going to stop the bleeding and set as much of the bone as I can, but …" she trailed off, what she did not say was that right now saving his life was the biggest hurdle they faced.

She had no equipment, no hot water, no splints and the only light sources — what little there was of it — could go out at any minute, her hands shook as she made the first incision but steadied as she worked. She lost track of time, lost track of the comings and goings. Samuel dropped the makeshift splints and she paused long enough to look at them, they were made out of bits of furniture found in the rubble, but most surprising was that they were perfect.

"We managed to boil water for you Doctor," he said as he put a mining bucket near her. Julia nodded her thanks and used it to clean the wound so she could see better. Patrick found himself a makeshift crutch and hobbled back and forth between Julia and the men left on the other side of the bend. Samuel stayed with her, taking over the lantern, he held it where she needed it. Then helped her pull the bone straight in the other leg, and held the splints as she bound it and even held the ether soaked cloth when Billy semi woke up and started thrashing around. When she finished with Billy there was nothing more she could do for him except try and make him as comfortable as possible. She turned to Patrick, who was once again with them, his face was soaked with sweat and he looked flushed, not a good sign.

"Lets have a look at that leg now Patrick," she said as she cleaned her hands in the now tepid water. Patrick grimaced but moved his leg closer to the light.

"I'm going to have to cut the trousers," she said apologetically, clothing was dear, especially on a diggers pay. He nodded and let Samuel help him sit on the ground.

Julia's scalpel made a fine cut through the thick cotton, and spread it apart carefully. The leg was most definitely broken just below the knee, and swollen to almost twice it's size. What worried her even more was that the knee was bigger than a balloon, and an angry purple. When she touched it Patrick cried out but did not move, and the skin was burning hot.

"You've definitely broken it and possibly the knee cap. It can be set but…" she hesitated and sighed, sitting back on her heels, "fluid and blood is leaking out of the bone into the knee cap and we need to drain that out before we set it." She held up the empty bottle of ether.

"I can't put you out Patrick, and judging by that color we can't wait any longer," she looked up as Samuel sat down beside them, and they exchanged a long look of understanding as he took the bloodied bucket.

"Do it Doc, I have a wife and five little one's that need me to have both my legs," he said firmly, but she could see the absolute terror in his eyes.

She nodded and turned to gather the left over splints and bandages. Billy was starting to move around and moaning. She watched as Patrick put a comforting hand on the boy's brow and soothed him.

Samuel came back with a fresh bucket of water, and she did not ask where they were getting the water from.

"I'm going to need you to hold him Samuel, he's got to hold perfectly still and that's not going to be easy." She said and the big man nodded, settling into a crouch behind Patrick. She started to show him where to hold and explained to him that once she had drained the fluid they would have to straighten the bones, and how they would have to do it, but she was suddenly convinced that he knew all that already.

She worked quickly, while Patrick tried to bite back the screams, but the sound that came out of his throat was a thousand times worse than a scream would have been. It was a harsh agonizing grunt, spittle ran down his chin as he panted and huffed through the first incision. The puss and blood fountained out at her first cut, but she went deeper, and when she pushed her fingers into the incision to check the bone and cartilage he finally let loose with a ear shattering cry, but he did not move, not even when she and Samuel pulled and twisted his leg straight. She dug around in her bag and found a small glass tube and inserted it partly into the wound, and then stitched it closed around it. It was only as she tied up the bandage around the splint that she realized Patrick was still very much awake and watching her.

"Don't worry the draining tube will come out in a few days," she told him when he eyed it with a frown. He looked exhausted and his face was flushed, she prayed he was not coming down with a fever, as she did not have any more mercury in her bag.

Julia's head swam with exhaustion, but she turned and washed her hands in the already pinkish water, dried them on a scrap of petticoat and cleaned what equipment she had. It was time to move on to the other men. She checked on Billy, he'd quieted again and she checked his pulse, it was slow and steady. He was sleeping off the ether.

Samuel rose with the bucket and it was only then that she noticed the twisted and damaged candelabra that he was holding aloft to see his way.

"Good I can leave the lamp here," she said with a sigh, she had not wanted to leave Patrick in the dark with Billy. If the boy woke up and panicked he could cause himself untold damage.

Getting to her feet proved problematic when she could not feel her legs, Samuel didn't know where to grab to help her and offered her his hand. She bit back a snarl, and stumbled to her feet without his help and very little dignity. A loud crash nearly put her back on the ground, and this time she took his offered hand and held on as the dust cloud settled over them.

"Julia!"

Her heart did a flip and she could not stop the smile from spreading over her face, it was annoyed, frightened and loud, but it was Murdoch's voice.

"The cavalry has arrived," she said with a near hysterical giggle.

"Damn it Julia!" He roared again, and she winced.

"We are here William," she called back.

William had no problem knowing where to put his hands, as he grabbed her around the waist and hauled her against him.

"Really William, what took you so long?" She demanded with a laugh.

"You scared fifty years off my life," he growled as he took her mouth in a hard angry kiss that left her breathless and dizzy.

Neither Julia nor Patrick noticed Samuel slide away into the dark.


	12. Chapter 11

_(A small side note about Julia's father. It has not been established yet what her relationship is to her father, or even who her father is. (Though it might have been in the books.) Fandom's general consensus is that he must be some form of aristocrat, and that her relationship with him is estranged, but the only real mention of him was in a season two episode during her conversation with Ruby, and her wording is ambiguous. _

_I chose to follow my own instincts on this. Tyrants very seldom raise strong children, mostly because they are broken very early in life. Had Ogden been a tyrant, having one strong willed, adventurous daughter would have been amazing, having both his daughters turn out like that is nothing short of impossible, and when you add in the era they lived in, a man being very much Lord and Master of his home and everyone in it, even a strong mother would not account for both Ruby and Julia's ease with themselves and the male sex in general. From all that I can only conclude that their father must have had a lot to do with who they are and therefor could not have been either a tyrant or distant and uninterested. Well at least that's the case in my head :P )_

_Also a very special thanks to everyone for the heads up on Jimmy's people, I'm loving the feedback. _

_Pet_

Julia's day was far from over. Once Murdoch managed to let her go, she insisted on supervising the transfer of her patients, even pushing Darcy aside when he offered her a more comfortable carriage ride to the hospital than with the cart that held the wounded.

William stepped back and kept out of her way, despite the seething need inside him to hold her, assure himself that she was there alive and well in the most physical way. He knew her well enough to know that she would not be stopped until everyone was safe. But the fear that had been riding him for hours was stripping him of all his hard won control, leaving him feeling raw and dangerously at the edge. He did the only thing he could, leaving a constable at the hospital, he returned to the precinct.

"Sir, that man Doctor Ogden asked me to find seems to have disappeared," George said as he stepped over the mess in the station house. Murdoch rose with the pieces of his truth finder and sighed, out of all his inventions that had not survived the disaster this was the saddest loss. The blue liquid swirling up had been the first outward clue of his feelings for Julia.

"Samuel?" He asked absently putting the broken bits into a box.

"Aye Sir. It's strange, the men down in the tunnel swear he just appeared when Doctor Ogden did, they had not seen him before that," George said as he started gathering papers off the floor and putting them into another box for later sorting, "putting all these back into the proper files is going to take months," he muttered, knowing that job would fall on him and Henry.

"Ask around at the fire-station and hospital staff. If he did not work as a digger, then the only other reason for him being down there is either of those," Murdoch said, his head snapped up as if on a string and George followed his gaze. Doctor Ogden was striding into the precinct and Murdoch was already moving across the room to meet her.

"All done?" he asked softly, grasping her waist as she swayed a little.

"All done in, just about William. I will need to go back to the hospital to help out, but right now I am on my way home for a bath and a few hours rest," she said, then reaching out gently touched his cheek, "as should you."

Murdoch turned, grabbed his hat and firmly urged her towards the door. "Come." was all he said.

He'd spent the last hours keeping busy, keeping his mind on clearing up the precinct. Willfully forcing himself away from her, in his own silent way trying to show her his support, and all that time Murdoch boiled. He needed her, needed to be inside her, to hear her scream his name, and more than anything he needed to feel her around him, her heart beating and her breath coming in shuddered pants as he let loose the beast that was tearing at his will.

Julia let him lead her out the door, expecting him to take her to the street and then home, but he opened a door in the outer passage and shoved her into it. She was still trying to figure out where they were when William lifted her onto what felt like a desk, pushed up her skirts and stepped between her legs. Whatever her reaction would have been was lost when his mouth found hers and he kissed her breath away.

"I'm sorry," he said against her mouth before he thrust into her with so much power it lifted her off the table and shot her straight into an orgasm. Her body shuddered in waves of pain and pleasure, pleasure and pain while William held her still, buried to the hilt inside her. When the last throb subsided he changed the angle slightly and drove into her, moving with a devastating tempo that wrenched her from one peak to the next in an exquisite torture of pleasure that even her horse mewls could not make him stop.

When he finally gave himself over to the passion and slumped against her, his head buried in her hair his breath coming out in shuddering gasps, she lay under him limp and too weak to even hold him. How long they lay there neither of them knew. When he gently lowered her legs, and slid from her, she moaned softly.

"Did I hurt you?" He asked gently, pulling her skirt back down. Julia opened one eye and frowned at him, then gave him a very sated smile and shook her head vehemently. William grinned then adjusted his clothing and looked around. They were in the janitor's office, which also doubled as a supply room. The only thing in it besides the shelves of cleaning supplies was a small desk, which did not look like it would hold a cup of tea, never mind Julia or the rigorous pounding both had taken. An outside streetlamp let in a weak yellow glow from the little window.

"Can you stand?"

Julia debated that for a moment then shook her head with a slight laugh, she could not even feel her legs never mind actually put her weight on them.

"I am unsure I will ever be able to walk again William," she said with a smirk, and then belied her words by sliding to the floor and standing, albeit very unsteadily.

Murdoch helped her straighten her clothing, but there was very little they could do about her hair. The workout in the tunnel, and now this had left her hair hanging down her back, not a hair pin in sight.

"I will be staying with you tonight," he stated, as if he expected her to argue with him. Julia frowned but nodded, and letting him put an arm around her waist to steady her, she moved with him out the door into the very empty passage. This would be a first for them, while she'd spent the night at his home, Murdoch had never risked her reputation by staying the night at hers.

"Why?" She asked as he helped her into a carriage.

He did not answer her for a long moment then sighed and turned to her, "I have the greatest respect for you Julia, both as a person and as a doctor," the way he said it with just a hint of regret, made her blood run cold. There was a steely determination in his eyes that she knew meant that whatever he had decided to do, right or wrong there would be no talking him out of it.

"William?"

Again he went quiet, and she knew he was waiting for them to arrive at her home, something that worried her even more. She suddenly had the terrible fear that he was ending things between them. They'd not spoken of love, or forever, was he now finishing with her?

She was not ready. She'd always imagined she would have years to get used to the idea of loosing him, but this was too soon and too painful, it felt as if he was cutting out her heart with rusty nail. Murdoch watched her for a moment then, as if reading her mind, took her in his arms and held her.

"We will talk as soon as you don't look as if a small gust of wind would blow you over." He said firmly.

Surely these were not the actions of a man ready to move on? She thought, and yet her heart still ached.

William did not just help her from the carriage, he picked her up and carried her towards her front door. Julia stiffened in his arms.

"William put me down," she hissed, her eyes on her home. Murdoch didn't even slow down, instead he tightened his hold when she started to wriggle.

"Put me down at once!" she ordered. The door of her home opened and she bit back a groan. Murdoch stepped past the tall imposing gentleman glowering at them, and gently placed her on her feet.

"Hello Father." She said as she stepped into her fathers embrace, he frowned at Murdoch over his daughter's head.

"Are you unwell?" he asked stepping back and looking her over.

"Just a little singed. What are you doing here?" Julia asked, as if she was not in a torn gown, one button shy of indecent, her hair in a riot of curls down her back and her lips looking suspiciously swollen and red. Ogden ignored the questions and raised an aristocratic brow in Murdoch's direction.

"I take it you are Julia's Detective friend?" He asked. Murdoch would have answered, but Julia swayed dangerously at that moment and he reacted instantly by swinging her back up in his arms. It did not escape his attention that despite the coolly composed mask Ogden wore, he was beside his daughter almost as fast as Murdoch.

"She's exhausted sir," Murdoch said, pointedly. Ogden nodded and waved to someone behind Murdoch. Jarvis scurried forward.

"Is Miss Julia unwell?" He asked, with no small amount of panic in his voice.

"_Doctor_ Ogden has had a very eventful day, would you be so kind as to see that her bath is prepared," Murdoch ordered. Then turned to her father.

"Go get her settled with her maid, I will await you in the study." Ogden snapped waving them both off. Julia was strangely silent as he carried her up the stairs. He looked down at her cradled against him thinking she'd fallen asleep, but she was staring after her father with a worried frown on her face.

At the top of the stairs he placed her on her feet again and nodded to the maid waiting in the doorway.

"William, about my father…" Julia stopped when Murdoch dropped a gentle kiss on her lips, silencing her.

"It will be fine, go soak away some of the aches." William said as he prodded her towards the waiting maid. Julia was tempted to turn and demand he hear her out, but the maid chose that moment to wrinkle her nose in distaste at the state of her clothing and Julia gave in to vanity and slipped into her rooms.

"Drink?" Was Ogden's first question as Murdoch stepped into the study. He tried hard not to remember the last time he'd been in this house, or what they did in the drawing room just one door away. It would really not be appropriate to speak to Julia's father while aroused.

"No thank you sir," he murmured, studying the other man as he poured a generous shot of whiskey from the crystal decanter. There was something very familiar about him, and yet he knew he'd never met him.

"Do we know the extent of the damage from the tunnel collapse?" Ogden asked, settling back against the desk. Murdoch shook his head, suddenly wishing he'd taken that drink as it would give him something to do with his hands.

"It's too soon to tell. Overall death toll is hard to establish with so many seriously wounded, but so far it's on twenty seven," Murdoch's gaze fell on Ogden's cravat pin in the shape of a golden scarab. Suddenly his brain shot into overdrive: the pin, Ogden's face, the Egyptian artifacts haphazardly scattered around the room.

"Ogden… I did not put it together until now! Sir Henry Ogden-Trent," William grinned at the man, "you are the queen's favorite Egyptologist and I might add a master in your field." He shook his head, and took another look at the artifacts in the room. It was frightening to realize that they were very probably genuine ancient Egyptian, and not the fashionable copies that were the rage.

"Her Majesty likes the gifts I give the crown, personally she's not very fond of my tendency to speak my mind," Ogden said, and Murdoch noticed a very distinct glimmer of mischief in the man's eye's, both the eyes and the mischief he'd passed onto his daughters. Murdoch shook his head, and found himself more than a little wounded.

"I've known Julia for over six years, spoken with her about hundreds of different subjects including my fascination with archeology, and yet she never once mentioned you." He said it almost accusingly. The reality of what her silence meant was just starting to sink in, and it was far larger than just her keeping something from him, it was that she did not trust him.

"Julia and I have had a falling out Detective, we have not been on speaking terms for the last three years. I imagine that had more to do with her not mentioning me than her deciding not to reveal it to you." Her father stated, and just for a moment there was sadness in his gaze, before the mask fell back into place.

"Perhaps," Murdoch murmured, then sighed and shook his head, "or she was protecting us both in her own way," he said, then pulled himself up straight and looked Julia's father straight in the eye.

"I intend to marry your daughter Sir, with your permission or with out," he said defiantly, "and possibly without her permission too," he added in a mutter.

Sir Henry studied him for a long moment, so long Murdoch started to have great sympathy for bugs under a magnifying glass, then he nodded and smiled.

"I believe you shall Detective Murdoch, I truly believe you shall," he said, then moved forward and clapped Murdoch on the shoulder, "and you will need my help to do it, as well as my blessing, which you have."

Murdoch was speechless. He'd prepared himself for a fight, geared himself to be at odds with this man, and possibly have to escort him out of his own daughter's house. Now for the first time a ray of hope shone through. He was suddenly convinced that not even Julia's stubborn determination would stand a chance against them.

"Ruby told me of what has been going on, and I have to say I was concerned that she would end up married to Garland before she came to her senses. What a mess that would have become," he sighed, moving back to his desk. He handed Murdoch a list of names.

"These are the people I have invited here for an evening's entertainment. The pretense is to discus the best way to help our town recover, however I think you might find it useful for another reason."

Murdoch glanced down and his eyebrows shot up, "that's quiet a list sir," he hesitated, not sure how to broach what he planned to do. As much as Sir Henry appeared to support him, actually being faced with his daughter's private affairs was going to be another thing entirely.

"Sir, am I to understand that you know what I plan to do?" he asked carefully.

Sir Henry nodded, "I think I do Detective, there is only one way that you are going to get Julia to change her mind," he sighed, "now perhaps we should discuss the best strategy?"

Julia woke from an exhausted doze to her maid's gentle shaking. The water she was lying in was cold and she blinked and shivered.

"You need to get out Doctor, you'll catch a chill staying in cold water so long," she said holding out a warm towel.

"Yes of course," Julia said and forced her aching body to rise.

"How long have I been asleep?" she asked, suddenly remembering her father was in the house.

"Just about an hour Doctor," the maid gave a little cry when the door opened and Murdoch stepped into the room.

"Sir!" she gasped, and Julia shushed her.

"It's ok Polly, I'll dress myself. You can go now." She hissed shooing her out the door. She was not surprised when the maid sniffed as she walked past Murdoch.

He looked deliciously disheveled. It never ceased to amaze her how arousing she found it when his normal perfectly groomed and proper attire was messed up. Now he stood watching her with his hair standing on end in places, his jacket and tie gone, his shirt open to reveal a small v of chest and as a bonus he'd rolled up his shirt sleeves. She wanted to leap into those arms.

William looked at her face, one dark eyebrow rose and he cleared his throat, "Julia much as I enjoy having you look at me as if you are trying to decide where to take the first bite, I'm afraid we need to talk." There was real regret in his voice, so she forced her libido back and slipped into her dressing gown. Turning her back on him to close it and drop the towel, she knew it was a little late for modesty between them, but suddenly she did not like the hard cold look in his eye.

She moved to her dressing table and sank into the chair, her back to the mirror as she watched him prowl around her bedroom.

"What is it William." She demanded finally, tired of being afraid and even more tired of the thoughts whirling around in her head.

He put down the delicate little porcelain Shepard's maid he'd been examining and turned to her, his hands clenched into fists.

"I love you Julia," he moved closer, his eyes flaming with emotion that singed her with their heat, "I will love you for as long as I live and probably beyond that. You have to know that there will never be another for me." He said it with such a fierce tone she rose to move towards him, but he halted her with a held up hand.

"No, hear me out first," his voice was desperate and it was there in his face too. Julia sat back down.

"I want you for my wife, with kids, without, adopted or saved from the street. I don't care Julia, I only want you," he dropped to his knees at her feet.

Tears fell down her face uninhibited as she shook her head. Everything inside her screamed to say yes, to give in to him, but the uncertainty ate at her, held her back, and she shook her head.

Murdoch closed his eyes in defeat and rose, when he opened them again there was that ice-cold determination in them.

"William…" at that moment, as he turned from her and moved a step towards the door she knew she would not survive loosing him. She could live, she could work and she would go on, but her life would be empty and devoid of color. If she felt like this now how badly would it hurt when he left her to marry?

He didn't go far, just to sit on the end of the bed. "You leave me no choice then," he said softly with a sigh.

Julia frowned at him in confusion.

"Your father has invited a few people here, they should be arriving around about now," he said looking at the little clock on her dressing table. Julia felt all the blood rush from her face.

"Who?" she managed to croak out.

"Your fathers friends, among which is the editor in charge of Toronto's main news paper, your superior, the Chief Coroner, Chief Constable Gillies, three politicians, and of course our friends and colleagues, " he said it casually, then rose and moved towards her. For once Julia wanted to back away from him, the predatory look in his eyes was frightening.

"We have also invited both a catholic priest and a protestant one, and a judge." He leant down his face mere inches from hers.

"Now you have two choices, either you agree to marry me, and I will let you dress and we go down stairs and let the priests and the judge do the ceremony with all those people as witnesses," he grabbed a lock of her hair and twirled it around his finger, before straightening and standing over her with his arms crossed.

"Or?" she managed to croak out. Murdoch's eyes narrowed.

"Or I take you as you are now, half naked, down the stairs and into that room full of people, and declare to all that I have compromised you repeatedly and that you are in fact my mistress."

"Are you insane?" Julia cried out, "we will both loose our jobs and probably have to move, because neither of us would ever be able to work in Canada again," She tried to stand but he pushed her back down, and it was not a gentle nudge.

"And you would not be working anywhere Julia. Your father has asked me to inform you that should you still refuse to wed me, he will be packing you up and taking you back to Europe," Murdoch's face was carved in stone while she fought for breath at the sheer outrage of both these men, made worse by the fact that she was completely helpless against them

"I would of course follow you, there is nothing I would not do to have you," he said firmly. Julia shook her head, anger bringing the color back to her face.

"Including forcing me into a marriage I do not want? I always thought that out of all the men I have ever met, you are probably the only one who has _seen_ me as his equal. But I see that you are just like the rest! I'm your equal only as long as it does not inconvenience you in any way," She snapped, then winced in regret when he jerked back as if she'd hit him.

"Seven years Julia!" it came out a wounded roar, "Seven years I have been your partner and your friend, and in all that time I have never treated you as anything less than that. I don't deserve this from you now." He finished and she had to admit he was right, it shamed her into dialing back her temper a little

"And what makes you think I will even stay with you after you ruined my life?" she added.

Murdoch grabbed her face in his hand, and kissed her. It stole her breath and made her dizzy, and when he raised his head she was finding it difficult to focus.

"Because you love me just as much as I do you, and while you will probably not speak to me for a very long time, you can not stay away from me any more than I could you." He murmured softly, then sank to the floor at her feet again, grabbing her hands in his.

"Julia I swear to you for the rest of our lives together I will treat you as an equal, as my partner in life. No decision that we need to make will ever be mine but always ours. You can work, or not work, we can live here or move into our own house, have servants or not, live off your money or mine, travel or stay, move to the far corners of the globe or stay right were we are. The choices are yours to make and unless your life is in danger, I will never force you into anything or force my will over yours. But I can not survive without you in my life, and I need to know that you feel the same way."

She sat there stunned into silence. His words were like a vow and she believed him, and more than that she finally understood why he found it almost impossible to talk about his emotions. The depth and force of them chocked him.

She was trying to find her own words when the door burst open and Ruby stormed into the room. Murdoch did not even jump, he just sat there watching her, his eyes never leaving her face.

"For heavens sake Julia, stop being such a ninny and say yes. A woman does not get a proposal like that every day and I swear if you do not marry him I will," she snapped at her sister, frustration in every line of her body.

"And William, I refuse to let you loose a job you love just because my sister is being foolish," she said, a lot calmer as she turned to Murdoch. With a wave of her hand three maids and a footman appeared. That got Murdoch's attention off Julia for a moment.

"Eavesdropping is incredibly rude." Julia snapped. Ruby ignored her.

"I realized you were not serious about Darcy when you didn't even bother to buy your trousseau or wedding dress, so I thought I should do that for you incase our handsome Detective did sweep in and save you from an unhappy union." She waved the maids closer, it took both of them to carry in the wedding dress.

"Father has offered one of his suits for William, the footman will show you where you can change and help you dress," she said and both of them watched Julia waiting.

"If he does this, your life is not the only one being ruined Jules. They will fire him, and there is very little chance that he will ever work as a policeman again," Ruby said softly.

"Julia?" Murdoch said, the question on his face, Julia closed her eyes for a moment. She'd known from the moment he'd touched her the first time that she would never be able to let him go without a fight. Much as she wanted him to have everything he wanted in life, she just could not let him have it without her. All her noble intentions had simply been her own fear of letting him get even more of a hold on her heart than he already had.

"Go get dressed William, it's going to take me a while to get into this dress and let Ruby fuss over me," she finally said on a sigh, when she opened her eyes he was still watching her with that determined look.

"I will marry you William, and god help us both because right now I'd just as soon hit you over the head than make you any vows," she snapped.

His face lit up as if a thousand candles had suddenly burst into flame inside him. The pure joy of it was enough to sweep any residual fear she had completely away, and she grinned back at him.

"And yes, I do love you insanely William Murdoch." She sighed leaning in for his kiss.

It went on long enough to have the maids giggling and sighing, the footman grinning and Ruby shooing them all out the room with a small envious smile on her face.


	13. Chapter 12

"Dearly beloved…" The Catholic priest glared over at the Protestant one who seemed to think that was his cue to jump in, and did so with a decisive lift of his bible.

"We are gathered here…" he got no further before the good father interrupted him by nudging him not so gently to the side.

"In the name of _our_ lord!" He snapped, giving the room a gimlet glare as if daring them to refute his claim. Pastor Steel's not so gentle returned hip bump nearly upended Father Rafficky, who, of course, could not control the rage and promptly body slammed Pastor Steel so hard he stumbled against Sir Henry, and both went stumbling backwards, stopped from falling only by the very sturdy reading desk.

William and Julia managed to tear their eyes off each other long enough to realize that their wedding was fast turning into a brawl and moved to intercede the clergymen from an all out war.

"Goodness this wedding is turning out to be such a blast." Ruby's voice floated clearly above the muttered and hissed raging of the clergymen and the not so subtle titters, gasps and whispers of the bystanders. Like two spitting cats the priests had to be separated by the room before Brackenreid could restore some semblance of order.

"Detective Murdoch." Sir Henry stepped forward brushing invisible dust off his jacket, "I would suggest that it might be best if you allowed the judge to perform the actual marriage, and settle for both churches blessings after the fact." His face was bland almost expressionless, but by now Murdoch could see the very distinct twinkle of humor in his eyes.

"I agree sir." He said.

"Oh Pooh! And here I was so enjoying the fun," Ruby actually stomped her foot at that, and Murdoch glared at her.

"I think our Julia has been through quite enough excitement for one day," Sir Henry's voice when he spoke to his daughter was gentle and coaxing, as was the look of sad tenderness he bent upon his eldest.

Thanks to Sir Henry, Inspector Brackenreid and a few of the other dignitaries present, the men of god were convinced to give their blessing separately and after the actual marriage by the Judge, who glared at the priest's disapprovingly each time he mentioned "the lord", which was often.

"Do you Julia Ogden, take this man William Henry Murdoch to be your lawful wedded husband?" he looked over his glasses at Julia,

"Yes, I do." Julia said in a clear calm voice, not taking her eyes off Murdoch.

"Do you promise to love, honor and obey him…" the judge toned severely. Murdoch winced even as the words rang in the air.

"Obey?" his blushing bride snarled.

" To have and …. Wait, what?" the judge stammered only then realizing that things had not gone as they should. He glared at them both.

Murdoch held onto Julia's hand with a death grip while she tried to yank it out of his grasp, her eyes sparked pure rage, and her little sharp teeth were barred. He could not have loved her more than at that moment, which for just a second made him wonder about his sanity.

"Perhaps we might use cherish instead of obey." William urged the Judge, who looked over at both priests accusingly. It was their inability to perform together that had placed him in the position of either pacifying a skittish bride, or condemning two people to sin. It was very obvious that neither of them would be forgoing a wedding night, with or without the actual wedding.

"If you have no objection to that Mr. Murdoch," he sniffed indignantly pointedly ignoring Julia's glower. William clamped an arm around her waist and held on tight, there was no way he was letting her storm out.

"None at all…" he assured him, then muttered, "just hurry,"

"You may kiss the bride…" were the sweetest words Murdoch had ever heard and, as he felt Julia's lips soften under his, the euphoria of relief nearly brought him to his knees.

_She was his! At last and forever, she was his_.

He managed to kiss her again after each priests blessing, despite the fact that those blessings were lobbed most ungraciously at them. He had her in his arms, the fear that he would suddenly wake and find it all another fantasy day dream was so intense he could not bring himself to let her go.

"Um…sir?"

Murdoch's head shot up and he turned and glared at George, who was red faced and shifting from one foot to the other.

"Crabtree, can't you see the man is busy? What is it?" Brackenreid snarled stomping up to them.

"I'm sorry sir's but Henry is here, there has been a development."

Julia sighed and laughed, giving him a gentle prod, "you do remember you have an open investigation to complete," she reminded him.

For once he was tempted to let someone else take over, but Julia gave him a narrow eyed look of warning and he grinned at her. He might be tempted but his Julia would skin him alive if he tried.

"Not to worry Detective, I will see to our guests," she said stepping back, and then with a very heated promise in her eyes just for him, "I'll even wait dinner for you."

Murdoch had a feeling she was not talking about food. He nodded to George then ignoring everyone, dragged his bride out the door and into the little drawing room.

Julia found herself shoved up against the closed door while her new husband kissed her senseless.

"I don't have the time to do what we both want right now, but I will hurry back" he hissed between kisses.

Julia just groaned and held onto him as his lips ran along her neck and up to her ear, "when I get back, I want you to be waiting for me on that big bed upstairs," he whispered nipping her ear lobe gently, "naked."

Julia's legs wobbled, and if it were not for the door at her back and Murdoch's arm around her waist she'd have slid to the floor in a quivering puddle of female desire. Those clever lips were sliding over the hills of her breast, and he chinned her dress down enough to expose the aching tip,

"On seconds thoughts perhaps you should keep on those little lacy stockings, I don't want you catching a chill," he murmured as his teeth closed over her nipple.

Julia keened and tugged at his clothing with frantic hands. She wanted him naked, needed him inside her right this instant or she would go up in flames. But Murdoch gave her abused nipple a little lick then moved back to her mouth catching her whispered pleas against his lips.

The hand not holding her slid up to her neck and closed around it, holding her gently in place as he broke the kiss, they were both breathing heavily. The feel of his hand around her throat was thrillingly arousing and yet uneasy at the same time, it made her feel helpless and very much under his power. Murdoch removed his hand reluctantly and used it to pull her bodice back up into place.

"I want to taste every inch of you," he said simply as he stepped back, Julia groaned and wobbled again. Murdoch grinned at her, then patted her behind, lifted her out of the way of the door and slipped out of the room.

"What development?" He asked as he climbed into the carriage, where the others were waiting.

"The Derby's have discovered a maze of hidden rooms and tunnels under and through the theatre, and both Serge and Madam Tasha have gone missing."

Terrance stood at the door waiting for them, Murdoch found himself being able to tell the difference between the two men by the way they held themselves. Terrance was curt and brash, while Trent more withdrawn and polite.

"A section of wall collapsed in the dressing room during the earth shake, that's when the girls discovered the hidden door."

The dressing room was in a state of complete disaster, broken glass from the mirrors, burnt patches from tipped over lamps and upended furniture everywhere. A large part of the paneling had come off the wall revealing a heavy door that hung off one hinge. Murdoch picked his way across to it and peered inside.

"We are going to need a lamp," he murmured.

"Miss Julia, there is a man waiting at the door," Jarvis said as she stepped back across the foyer, it had taken her the better part of ten minutes to compose herself after Murdoch had finished with her.

"A man?" she asked, from the expression of disgust on her butler's face she could tell Jarvis did not approve of whoever it was.

"Yes miss, I told him it was not a convenient time, but he insists. He says you know him." That right there was the root of Jarvis's disapproval. Her butler really was a snotty sort.

"Did you at least ask his name Jarvis?" She managed to keep her words gentle, despite wanting to snarl. Jarvis was a product of the times, he could not help being a prig.

"Samuel Miss."

"Show him into the small drawing room Jarvis," she said, then headed for the stairs, "and give him some refreshment." She ordered over her shoulder.

It took her barely ten minutes to get out of the cream and lace confection that was her wedding dress, and into her working clothes. Her maid muttered and growled like a like an enraged bear at the thought of a bride going off to work on her wedding night, and somehow in her mutterings it was all Murdoch's fault. Julia ignored her and sent her out as quickly as she no longer needed her.

Sir Henry was waiting for her at the bottom of the stairs, a brown leather bag in his hand, "I thought you might need a new one, since your other one is beyond repair. Consider this your early birthday gift," he said as she came closer. Julia smiled with delight and took it, stroking the soft leather.

"It's beautiful," she said giving him the first real smile in years. Sir Henry's gently brushed a finger over her cheek, both regret and hope in his eyes.

"I imagine your husband will not be happy with you leaving the house unescorted so if you wish I can go with you?"

Julia stepped back away from his touch, she regretted it too, but there was still too much said and unsaid between them, he dropped his hand.

"Thank you but I will be fine, and I will be escorted. Samuel will take me to the hospital," she smiled and on impulse reached up and kissed him on the cheek.

"Thank you for the gift Father."

Sir Henry hugged her close as if unable to let her go, but as she gently pushed out of his grasp and he stepped back, "it is fully stocked," he said gruffly.

Julia hesitated, but now was not the time to hash out old arguments, so she nodded and stepped around him.

Samuel was standing by the window when she walked in. He came towards her the moment she entered the room, "Doctor Ogden, please we must hurry, there is someone who needs your skill urgently," he grabbed her arm and tugged her towards the door.

Julia felt a fission of warning race up her spine as she let him lead her out of her home. Something about Samuel seemed off, and yet at the same time familiar.

She was at the bottom of her steps and onto the pavement before she looked at the carriage he was leading her too. She didn't need to see the gaping hole where a window should be to recognize it, but before she could scream Samuel's hand closed around her mouth, his mouth close to her ear.

"If you make a sound I will walk into that house and kill the first person I see." He whispered in her ear, Julia stopped struggling instantly.

"Good, now I promise I mean you no harm, there really is someone that needs your help." Samuel said easing back on his grip on her mouth. Julia let him lift her into the carriage. She could almost hear Murdoch snarling in her ear to put up more of a fight, but she had made an oath as a doctor to save lives, and she took that oath very seriously.

"I take it Samuel is not your real name?" She asked as he settled down beside her.

"It is one of my names, but I am called Serge," he said, and Julia winced visibly as Murdoch's warning voice in her head got louder. The man was annoying even when he was not around.

"Who needs my help?" She sighed, she had to keep reminding herself that this man was a brute who killed without thought, but she'd come to trust him in the cave even like him as a person, and some part of her still did.

"You will see," there was regret in his voice as he turned and held up a black bag, "I must place this over your head," he said. Julia instinctively shrank back from it. Strangely the one thought that went through her mind was that it would muss her hair.

"Do not be afraid Doctor, I mean you no harm," Serge assured her, and again Julia was struck with the belief that he was telling the truth.

"You will excuse me if I do not take the word of a murderer," she snapped more as a reminder to herself than a slap at him. He said nothing, just waited for her to lower her head, which she did. The cloth was light and let in enough air, and yet still she felt a moment of panic.

"Breath easy Doctor, this will not be long."

The carriage was already pulling to a stop, and Julia winced mentally, she had not taken note of where they were before he put the bag over her head, which Murdoch will no doubt point out to her in his oh so logical way.

Serge gently lifted her from the carriage, and without giving her time to argue swung her up into his arms. Julia debated snarling at him for the time it took her to realize he was carrying her down what felt like very narrow stairs, since she did not want to try and walk down them completely blind she remained silent. She decided instead to try to figure out where she was.

_Think Julia, use your other senses. _Murdoch's voice in her head.

The first thing she noticed was the smell. It was strangely familiar and she realized it was death, mixed with the musty smell of earth. Fear suddenly surfaced and she froze, he'd taken her to the graveyard, the same place he'd already killed two girls. She suddenly realized her own stupidity. She'd gone off with him without even putting up a fight, stupidly trusting instincts that were influenced by a shared traumatic experience.

When Serge stopped walking and placed her on her feet, she was cold with fear, "I'm going to take the bag off now, please don't try to run," he warned as he gently removed the bag.

Julia looked around, her eyes instantly landing on the bloodied bandages and the figure lying on a small stretcher. Madam Tasha lay against the bloodstained sheets, eyes open and filled with bitter rage as she fought for every breath she took.

"You must save her, quickly," Serge demanded. Julia ignored him. She was already gently examining Madam Tasha. The woman tried to draw a torturous breath, what little air she managed to drag into her lungs was quickly lost as she coughed and pink slime foamed out of her mouth,

"Get me a scalpel quickly, and I need a tube, about half an inch wide and three inches long. Hurry!" she ordered not even looking to see if Serge moved.

"Madam Tasha, try to remain calm, I am going to have to perform a Tracheotomy, it will help you breath a little easier," Julia leaned closer to Madam Tasha gently opening the buttons of her gown to expose her neck. Madam Tasha did not move, it was quite unnerving to see the woman's iron will in action. She was practically suffocating to death and her body's instinct would have been to fight and flay.

Julia sensed Serge moving up behind her and turned slightly to make room for him. He placed the bowl of water at her side. A thin glass tube and a scalpel lay in the water.

There was no more time, Madam's face was already turning a bluish tinge, and her fight for air was becoming weaker. Julia measured, wiped and cut in one smooth move, so fast Madam Tasha did not even have time to jerk away from the pain. Getting the tube in proved a little more difficult, but within moments clear pure air was flowing into the woman's lungs, but once again it was followed by the bubbling pink slime foaming up out of the tube.

"Her lungs are filling with fluid," Julia said, and started tearing open Madam Tasha's dress, her corset was bound so tight, Julia could not even get it undone. Serge gently pushed her away as he sliced through the laces. There was a dark bruise on her side, and as Julia touched it she felt something move under her fingers. The liquid bubbled up even faster through the tube.

"She needs a hospital Samuel, I can not save your mother here," she whispered, helpless as once again Madam Tasha fought for breath. She pulled out the tube and cleaned it, then gently slid it in again, Julia did this over and over and each time Madam Tasha got a little bit of clear air before the pink froth chocked her again. But in the end her body gave out and she simply slipped away.

Serge cried out, a roar of pain, a denial. Julia gently removed the tubing and closed the buttons on her dress. Then when Serge moved out of the way she covered the woman with a sheet.

"I'm sorry," she said helplessly.

Serge shook his head, "you tried Doctor Ogden," he said, "I thank you for that."

He gently tucked his mother's hand under the sheet, and they spent a moment of silence.

"You are an incredible woman Doctor Julia Ogden," he said watching her as she edged away from him, it once again occurred to her too late that he was a murderer.

"You fought for the life of a woman that you know is partly responsible for two deaths," while he spoke he moved to sit on a chair a fair distance away from her.

"Yes well the oath I took made no exceptions," she muttered trying to look around her without seeming obvious. They were in some form of underground passage, Julia assumed it was a sewer tunnel, but she could have sworn they had been in the graveyard earlier.

"I wish I had the time to explain things to you Doctor," he sighed head cocked to one side as if he heard something.

"Explain the brutal murder of two young girls? I can think of nothing on this earth that would justify a crime so heinous. Rest assured when they do hang you I will have no qualms about doing the autopsy on your body," Julia snapped, sliding another step further away from him.

"How much do you love your husband, Doctor?" he asked, and Julia froze where she stood, eyes narrowed.

"Leave William out of this," she snarled.

Serge raised his hands in a defensive gesture, "I do not mean it as a threat, it is merely a question," he hesitated as if waiting for her to speak, but Julia refused to be baited by him.

"I think you love him enough to kill for him Doctor, enough to go against all your beliefs and morals and oaths. I believe if his life were threatened you would do anything to save him," he stated harshly, his face filled with a torment she could only guess at and it gave her pause. Julia would not answer, she could not. In truth she did not know and prayed she never found out.

"Do not judge me Doctor, not until you have walked in my shoes," he said as he rose, and taking a long black cloak off the wall flung it over himself.

"Be safe Doctor, I wish you a long and happy life," he said as he suddenly and terrifyingly disappeared. Julia gaped at the spot where he'd stood not moments ago.

"Julia?"

Murdoch stepped into the room, a lamp held up in his hand. He stopped half a step into the room and glared at her, as if disbelieving his eyes.

"What are you doing here?"

"Never mind that, he went down that passage there!" She snapped pointing to where Serge had disappeared. Murdoch narrowed his eyes at her for another second, then moved past her and to the spot she was indicating. There was a narrow passage half hidden by the bend in the wall.

"Stay behind me Julia," he ordered over his shoulder, and Julia sighed but followed. She was tired, grubby and it was her wedding night, the last thing she wanted to do was go on a man hunt in the sewers, but she knew if she didn't follow, Murdoch would insist on taking her home himself and Serge would once again get away. So she hiked up her skirts and trudged down into the darkness with George following close behind her.

Two hours later, they had to give up in defeat. There were just too many places for Serge to hide, and too many ways for him to have gotten up to the street. Murdoch led them back to where Madam Tasha lay and sent George to fetch Julia's team.

"Now would be a good time to explain to me how you came to be here with a mass murderer," he asked in that calm voice that hid so much, but Julia had started to realize that with her husband the calmer the voice the angrier he was. And right now his voice was very calm.

"Samuel is Serge," she said, and Murdoch's eyebrow shot up in surprise, but he said nothing, just waited for her to continue.

Shock, damp and the cold were starting to set into her bones and she wished he would hold her, but this was a crime scene and at the moment he was Detective Murdoch, and she was a witness.

"I tried to save his mother, " she sighed nodding to the figure under the sheet, a shiver passed through her, and just that suddenly she was in his arms, she hadn't even seen him move. But he was warm and solid and she sighed blissfully, and settled against him.

"Lets get you home, I'll have to take a statement from you later, but right now you need to get warm." He said and gently led her from the room.

She was wrong, for him she would always be far important more than his job.


	14. Chapter 13

"I heard the news," Julia said as Murdoch helped her take off her coat and hat in the foyer of their house. For the moment they were living in both houses until this one was finished.

"We have Serge in custody," Murdoch slipped a hand around her waist as they moved towards the small kitchen.

"His mother's funeral?" Julia asked, stopping inside the door to the newly finished kitchen and turning to him.

"Yes," Murdoch pulled her against him, suddenly hungry for the taste of her. They had forgone the honeymoon to catch the murderer, but he had every intention of getting her alone for at least a week now that they had.

"William!" It came out a weak squeak when he lifted her up and sat her on the table.

"Sorry," he grinned, not looking the least bit apologetic, "yes from what you told us of his relationship with his mother, we knew he would not be able to resist coming to her funeral," he said it absently as he quickly and skillfully removed her shirt and corset, when he filled his palms with her breasts, they both groaned.

"It seems too easy," She chocked out on a moan. Murdoch narrowed his eyes, she was far too lucid when his own brain was fighting to form complete sentences. He tugged her chemise off tossing it across the room.

"Maybe." He murmured as he ran a finger from the curve of her breast, up to the tip and back again. Julia squirmed, she knew the ache building inside her was just the beginning, her husband was a very careful and thorough man. He loved to torture her with delicate butterfly touches when her body screamed to be taken, hard and long.

"Perhaps he wanted to be caught," she was trying to concentrate on his words, but it was impossible when he watched her with that sizzling heat in his eyes, and those skilled fingers were playing her breasts like an instrument.

"William?" she squirmed trying to tug him closer, but when her hands moved over his chest to his pants he grabbed them and pinned them behind her back with one of his. The position arched her up against him in an invitation he could not refuse.

William's head dipped and his mouth closed over her nipple, all thoughts of murder and body parts were lost in the whirlwind of passion that rose between them. He bit and tugged, licked and sucked at her breasts, over and over pushing her higher and higher. Achingly close to expiring with need, she pulled her hands free and buried them in his hair, pulling him up for a deep kiss filled with need.

He tugged her off the counter, and turned her around, firmly putting her hands on the table and leaning her over it. Julia whimpered as he lifted her skirts and petticoats and flipped them over her hips.

"I am extremely grateful that you have not started wearing those new closed bloomers that seem to be the latest craze in lady unmentionables," he murmured as he slipped a hand along the open seam of her nickers. She could not answer him, could not tell him that she did in fact own quite a few pairs of Bloomers but never wore them anymore for this very reason, because of him.

When his hand reached the junction of her thighs she groaned and arched her back giving him complete access, she was hot and ready, and he lost complete control. With a growl of possession he stepped between her legs, Julia braced herself for the onslaught as she felt him nudging at her opening, he worked himself inside her, gently almost reverently. His breath on her shoulder as his chest pressed against her back, she moaned, he felt almost too much for her.

"Am I hurting you?" his voice was harsh, deep and gravely, she could feel his entire body shaking as he tried to hold back, started to pull away. Julia bit her lip and shook her head, turning her face so she could see him.

"Don't you dare stop!" she hissed reaching behind she grabbed his hip and tugged him closer. It was all the invitation he needed, his hands moved to her hips and in one powerful thrust he was fully sheathed. Julia bit back the scream that lodged in her throat, she didn't want him getting skittish and pulling away from her now, not when everything inside her throbbed and tightened. She need not have bothered, William was too far gone now to stop, the beast inside him always so close to the surface where she was concerned, had torn loose and he claimed her in the most primitive primal way.

Her first orgasm slammed through her at his next thrust and each one after that drew it out, on and on as he moved in her with a devastating rhythm. Pushed from one peak to the next she could not hold back the cries, the screams, or the whimpers. William grit his teeth, every sound she made shoved him closer to complete insanity. Her hands clutched at him, trying to find something to hold onto as she shattered over and over again.

"One last time beloved," he whispered, she could feel his naked chest against her back and vaguely wondered when he'd undressed, but he changed the angle of his thrusts and she did as commanded. He followed her this time, letting her inner contractions shoot him over the brink. They slid off the counter and slumped on the floor in a quivering mess of arms and legs.

It took a long, long, time before she could find her voice, or the air to actually form words, "I have cooked stew for dinner?" she managed. Murdoch winced and sent a silent apology to his much abused stomach.

"That sounds wonderful," he tried to sound enthusiastic, but it was difficult.

Julia was a woman of many talents, cooking however was not one of them, not that it stopped her. It was yet another fascinating contradiction in his wife. Julia was a competent scientist, capable of mixing the most intricate complicated and delicate formulas, and yet a simple meal became an inedible mess, and even more confounding, Julia herself seemed completely oblivious to it.

Unfortunately for Murdoch he did not have the heart to tell her, so he ate the rubber chicken that tasted like cotton wool, the lamb that was so raw he could hear it bleat when he stuck the fork into it, and the fish that was so dry it was still stuck somewhere in his intestines and would probably be there for the rest of his life.

He lifted himself off the floor and helped her to her feet, when his eyes fell on her breasts and heated up, she quickly found his shirt and slipped it on.

"Have you managed to speak to him yet," she asked as she rolled up the sleeves and started collecting the scattered clothing, she headed up to the wash-room and Murdoch followed her.

"Yes, briefly," he said absently as he watched her fill a basin with warm soapy water.

"And?" she asked as she started to strip and suddenly stopped. She flushed and bit her lip. Murdoch grinned and crossed his arms over his chest, made himself comfortable against the door. Julia rolled her eyes, and with a defiant sniff she grabbed the basin and ducked behind the privacy screen.

"I asked him why red heads," Murdoch said, and sighed, he knew he would have to tell her eventually, "he said to ask you about Landesteiner's discovery,"

Julia popped her head around the corner of the screen frowning "Landesteiner?"

Murdoch nodded, she moved back behind the screen, "Landesteiner's theory is that not everyone's blood type is the same. We have found that some people do not take to blood transfusions and some people's blood does not take to being transfused, and he's apparently discovered that there are different blood types. I can imagine that Madam Tasha would have heard of it too, since transfusion or transference are her interest, it could be that she assumed body similarities would equal similar blood, red heads being the easiest distinguishable. Did he mention why those particular organs?"

He didn't for a moment forget what she was doing as she spoke, the very thought of her naked, running that soft sponge over her body was filling him with renewed vigor, but what she said did keep him riveted to the door way. That and the fact that he imagined she would need a little time to recover.

"No he would not elaborate on that or why such young girls," he murmured, "I could not understand why Madam Tasha was so bold, for her experiments it would have made more sense to harvest among the street people, the old and the week." He frowned as his mind kicked the thought around.

"Eternal youth, by harvesting and transplanting organs from the young perhaps?" Julia said as she came out. Murdoch's mouth fell open, and his already aroused body took another bolt of pure desire.

"Julia! That is indecent and not to mention illegal." He said and it came out in a growl. She was wearing one of her chemise and a pair of his trousers, and like the last time he had seen her in men's clothing, the sight of the cloth hugging her body was enough to make him want to pounce.

"I can wear whatever I want in my own home," she snapped, then sailed past him leading with her stubborn chin. William closed his eyes and counted to twenty, before slowly following her down the stairs, even the thought of her cooking was not enough to dampen his desire.

"It's very frustrating not having answers, especially since he is going to hang." she continued as he sank onto one of the chairs and watched her.

"He wants to see you," he said softly, his mind not really on what he was saying it was very definitely on how his trousers stretched taunt across her bottom as she bent to stoke up the fire in the oven.

She straightened and looked at him over her shoulder, and frowned. "I take it you do not approve?"

Murdoch winced but sighed, "I have already arranged it," he would of course be going with her.

"Perhaps he will give me answers," she murmured. William did not voice his opinion, his eyes were glued to the congealed jellylike goo that she was spooning out of the pot. He amended that thought, to _if _he survived her cooking.

The doorbell saved him and he tried not to seem too eager as he jumped up to answer it.

"There has been a murder down at the museum. Someone wrapped it up in bandages and put it in with the Egyptian mummy's." Murdoch let George in and sighed.

The honeymoon would have to wait a little bit longer.

The End

* * *

><p><em>Thank you everyone for your feedback and reviews, it has made this story so much fun to write. I know I have left a lot of unanswered questions, the good news is….there is another story on the fire.<em>

_It appears that while I, as a rule, restrict myself to one fanfiction per decade, William and Julia are not quite done with me yet and have given me the gift of another tale to tell._

_Honestly how else are we going to survive the long dark months until January next year?_

_Blessings_

_Pet_


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